Tungsten, a chemical element that has the symbol W and atomic number 74, has highest melting point of all elements except carbon - sources in scientific literature vary between 3387'C and 3422'C. Tungsten metal also has also excellent high temperature mechanical properties and the lowest expansion coefficient of all metals. A temperature of about 5700'C is needed to bring tungsten metal to boil - which corresponds approximately to the temperature of the sun's surface. With a density of 19.25 g/cm3, tungsten metal is also among the heaviest metals. Its electrical conductivity at 0'C is about 28% of that of silver which itself has the highest conductivity of all metals.

The name "Tungsten" (from the Swedish tung sten, meaning "heavy stone") is used in English, French, Italian and many other languages as the name of the element. Tungsten was the old swedish name for the mineral scheelite. The other name "wolfram" used in German and Spanish is derived from the mineral wolframite, and this is also the origin of its chemical symbol, W. The name "wolframite" is derived from "volf rahm", the name given to tungsten by Johan Gottschalk Wallerius in 1747. This, in turn, derives from "Lupi spuma", the name Georg Agricola used for the element in 1546, which translates into English as "wolf's froth" or "cream" (the etymology is not entirely certain), and is a reference to the large amounts of tin consumed by the mineral during its extraction.

Tungsten metal is often brittle and hard to work in its raw state; however, if pure, it can be cut with a hacksaw. The pure form tungsten metal is used mainly in electrical applications. Usually tungsten contains small amounts of carbon and oxygen, which give tungsten metal its considerable hardness and brittleness. Metal tungsten is worked by forging, drawing, extruding, or sintering. Of all metals in pure form, tungsten metal has the highest melting point (3,422 'C, 6,192 'F), lowest vapor pressure and (at temperatures above 1,650 'C) the highest tensile strength. Tungsten metal has the lowest coefficient of thermal expansion of any pure metal. Alloying small quantities of tungsten with steel greatly increases its toughness

Tungsten metal features the lowest vapor pressure of all metals, very high module of compression and elasticity, very high thermal creep resistance, high thermal and electrical conductivity and, last but not least, a very high coefficient of electron emission. The latter can even be improved by alloying tungsten metal with certain metal oxides.

Most of these unusual properties are due to the half-filled 5d electron shell with a very high binding energy of the tungsten metal lattice. Based on these properties, pure tungsten metal, tungsten alloys and some tungsten compounds cannot be substituted in many important applications in different fields of modern technology.

Tungsten occurs in the natural state only in the form of chemical compounds with other elements. The most common formal oxidation state of tungsten is +6, but it exhibits all oxidation states from -1 to +6. Tungsten typically combines with oxygen to form the yellow tungstic oxide, WO₃, which dissolves in aqueous alkaline solutions to form tungstate ions, WO₄²⁻. By now more than twenty tungsten bearing minerals are known, but only wolframite and scheelite are important for industrial use. Pure scheelite has blue-white fluorescence in ultraviolet light, a property which is utilised in prospecting. Wolframite is a general term for iron and manganese tungstates where the iron/manganese ratio can vary. A mineral with more than 80% FeWO4 is called Ferberite and a mineral with more than 80% MnWO4 is called Hübnerite.

All tungsten metal deposits are of magmatic or hydrothermal origin. During cooling of the magma, differential crystallization occurs, and scheelite and wolframite are often found in veins where the magma has penetrated cracks in the earth's crust. Most of the tungsten deposits are in younger mountain belts, i.e. the Alps, the Himalayas and the circum-Pacific belt.

The concentration of workable tungsten ores is usually between 0.3 and 1.0% WO3.

Over the last few years, sources of tungsten metal supply have changed dramatically. In 1986, the USSR was the world's largest consumer but, by 1992, the reformed CIS was exporting tungsten metal and by 1996 was the world's second largest supplier.

The other principal producing countries today are Austria, Bolivia, Peru and Portugal, whilst mines have closed in the last decade in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Japan, South Korea, Sweden, Thailand and the USA.

Not only have the sources of tungsten metal supply altered but so have the tungsten compounds traded, as fluctuating price differentials between concentrate and upgraded products and govermental restrictions played their part in the market.

Intermediate products include tungstates, tungsten oxides and hydroxides, W and WC powders, and ferrotungsten.

Tungsten is an essential nutrient for some organisms. For example, enzymes called oxidoreductases use tungsten in a way that is similar to molybdenum by using it in a tungsten-pterin complex.

On August 20, 2002, officials representing the U.S.-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that urine tests on leukemia patient families and control group families in the Fallon, Nevada area had shown elevated levels of tungsten metal element in the bodies of both groups. Sixteen recent cases of cancer in children were discovered in the Fallon area, which has now been identified as a cancer cluster; although the majority of the cancer victims are not longtime residents of Fallon. However, there is not enough data to support a link between tungsten and leukemia at this time.

Tungsten metal is usually mined underground. Scheelite and/or wolframite is frequently located in rather narrow veins which are slightly inclined and often widen with the depth. Open pit mines exist but are rare.

Most tungsten metal ores contain less than 1.5% WO3 and ore dressing plants are always in close proximity to the mine.

The tungsten ore is first crushed and milled to liberate the tungsten mineral crystals.

Scheelite ore can be concentrated by gravimetric methods, often combined with froth flotation, whilst wolframite ore can be concentrated by gravity, sometimes in combination with magnetic separation.