Tantalum Stocks

Tantalum is present in the Earth's crust in quantities of about 1 to 2 parts per million by weight, and there are many types of tantalum minerals, among which tantalite, spodumene, tin-manganese tantalite, black spodumene, and complex spodumene can be used as the raw material for industrial tantalum mining. Tantalite (Fe, Mn)Ta2O6 is the most important raw tantalum mineral. Tantalite has the same structure as columbite (Fe, Mn) (Ta, Nb)2O6. If there is more tantalum than niobium in the mineral, it is called tantalite, and conversely columbite (or niobium-iron ore). Tantalum and its minerals are very dense, so they are best extracted by gravity separation. Other Tantalum-bearing minerals include columbite yttrium and brown yttrium niobium, among others.

Mining of tantalum is concentrated in Australia, where Global Advanced Metals owns two mines in Western Australia, one in Greenbush in the south-west and the other in Waugina in the Pilbla region. Brazil and Canada are major producers of niobium, and local ore mining also yields small amounts of elemental tantalum. In addition, China, Ethiopia and Mozambique are important producers of tantalum. Tantalum is a by-product of the zinc mining process in Thailand and Malaysia. The largest estimated future sources of tantalum are, in order of importance, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Greenland, China, Mozambique, Canada, Australia, the United States, Finland, and Brazil.

Coltan and tantalite, collectively known as coltan, are present in Central Africa. The Second Congo War is linked to this. According to a United Nations report dated October 23, 2003, the smuggling and transportation of coltan has sustained the war there. The war has killed some 5.4 million people since 1998, making it the deadliest military conflict since the Second World War. Corporate ethics, human rights, and environmental and ecological issues raised by coltan mining in the war zone of the Congo Basin have become widely publicized. Despite the importance of coltan mining to the Congolese economy, the Congo produces only a small fraction of the world's tantalum. According to the annual report of the United States Geological Survey, tantalum production in the region accounted for less than 1% of the world's total between 2002 and 2006, and only 10% in 2000 and 2008.[27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36] Although coltan mining is important to the Congolese economy, Congolese tantalum production is a small fraction of the world's total.

Current trends predict that all tantalum resources will be depleted in less than 50 years, so there is an urgent need to increase recycling.