From villain to dividend — the fluorite hiding in tungsten skarns
- Noel Ong
- 8 hours ago
- 13 min read
In Part 2, fluorite was the villain — the calcium look-alike that makes a tungsten concentrate so hard to clean. But fluorite (fluorspar) is itself a critical mineral. So the question writes itself: if you can separate it, is the troublemaker actually a second product? The literature says yes — with conditions. Here is the evidence, sourced.
Samso Insights | Research Note | Understanding Tungsten - Part 3 | Samso Geology Series |
1.00 — THE PIVOT
One mineral, two destinies
As we conclude the Understanding Tungsten series, we come to balance out the view of why the skarn tungsten deposits dominate the space. In Part 2, we talked about the issues of processing tungsten with "contaminants" complicating the discussion. Everything in Part 2 treated fluorite (CaF₂) as the enemy, being the main gangue mineral whose surface is so close to scheelite's that fatty acids float both, diluting the tungsten concentrate. That is all true.
However, if we take a step back and understand the recent registration of fluorspar, the commercial name for fluorite, as the world's primary source of fluorine. With the ongoing narrative of critical minerals and the importance of being in the business of critical metals, Fluoride is suddenly in the limelight.
