The King Island Scheelite share price more than doubled from a low of 6.2c last week to a high of 13.5c on Monday, attracting a ‘please explain’ from the ASX. 

By Tuesday mid-morning the share price had settled at 10c — still at its highest point since late 2015. 

King Island (ASX:KIS) told the ASX it was unaware of any information concerning the company that had not been announced to the market which could explain the recent uptick in its share price.  

King Island is redeveloping one of the world’s richest tungsten deposits, its wholly-owned Dolphin project on King Island in Tasmania, where it expects to make an investment decision later this year. 

King Island chairman Johann Jacobs told Stockhead all mining lease and environmental approvals for the project were already in place.

Market commentators were predicting a 5.5 per cent compound annual growth rate for the tungsten market over the next five years, Mr Jacobs said.

The tungsten price has continued its steady rise since late 2016. The price of tungsten now sits around $US350 per metric tonne unit (mtu). 

King Island has said the buoyant tungsten price was largely due to tightness of supply out of China, largely as a result of stricter environmental regulations.  

There is also some excitement about new emerging applications for tungsten in cars and batteries. 

Tungsten also has major applications in machine tools (drill bits and cutting tools), as a toughener in steel alloys, in ammunition and armoury, and a range of other applications. The oil and gas sector has also shown steady demand for tungsten products.  

King Island has been contacted for comment. 

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