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INTERNATIONAL TUNGSTEN INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION

Information on tungsten: sources, properties and uses

Committees

Executive Committee 

The Association is administered by an Executive Committee comprising the President, Vice-President and from two to ten members.  The actual number of the members is fixed by the Annual General Meeting (AGM). 

The President and Vice President are elected for two-year terms of office by the AGM on the recommendation of the Executive Committee, which also appoints the Secretary-General. 

Akira Kawaguchi, ITIA President (right), and Jeffery Green, Vice-President

Secretary-General

The appointment of Dr Burghard Zeiler as the Secretary General was announced on 1 January 2012.

Zeiler joined Wolfram Bergbau und Hütten AG in 1991 and became the CEO in 2000.  He was an ITIA Executive Committee member from 2000 to 2011 and served as the ITIA President from 2006 to 2008.

Technical Consultant

Dr Wolf-Dieter Schubert, Professor at the Vienna University of Technology, was appointed as the Technical Consultant in 2003.  Schubert heads a group on metallurgy with particular emphasis on refractory metals and hard materials.  He is author of more than one hundred scientific publications and has instructed more that fifty diploma and doctoral thesis works.

 

Burghard Zeiler, Secretary-General (right) and Wolf-Dieter Schubert, Technical Consultant

Health, Safety and Environment Committee

The monitoring of health and environment issues was a principal aim of ITIA.  The Committee's work programme includes:

  • to monitor proposals for global legislation, regulations and other developments in the area of health, safety and the environment.
  • to establish relationships with regulatory authorities in order to improve their understanding of the health and environment related to science of tungsten, tungsten compounds and hardmetals.
  • to identify experts recognised in the area of human health and metals in order to be prepared to refute any published scientific allegations
  • to prepare a bibliography as a preliminary to setting up a database on tungsten and health concerns
  • to develop scientific data on the impact of tungsten on human health and the environment
  • to establish where gaps existed on health data with regard to tungsten and plan to fill such gaps
  • to be prepared to respond promptly to public concerns, using professional help
  • to liaise and exchange information with other metal trade associations  

Ranulfo Lemus (3rd from the left), Volker Mittenzwei, HSE Committee Chairman (4th on the right) with HSE Committee Members

HSE Director

After working as a consultant to ITIA for six years,
Dr Ranulfo Lemus, a senior toxicologist, has become the HSE Director since February 2013.  Lemus takes the lead on the Association's HSE work programme and interfaces with worldwide regulatory agencies and authorities on the HSE matters relating to tungsten materials.  

© 2011 International Tungsten Industry Association
Copyright of images: ITIA