Production and Supply
Approximately 71% of global tantalum supply in 2008 was met by newly mined product, 20% from recycling, and the remainder from tin slag and inventory.
Tantalum minerals are mined in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Democratic Republic of Congo, China, Ethiopia, and Mozambique. Tantalum is also produced in Thailand and Malaysia as a by-product of tin mining and smelting.
Potential future mines, in descending order of magnitude, are being explored in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Uganda, Greenland, China, Mozambique, Canada, Australia, the United States, Finland, Afghanistan, and Brazil. A significant reserve of coltan was discovered in 2009 in western Venezuela. In 2009 the Colombian government announced coltan reserves had been found in Colombia's eastern provinces.
| metric tons of tantalum mined | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | |
| Australia | 165 | 218 | 224 | 170 | 238 | 274 | 276 | 302 | 330 | 350 | 485 | 660 | 940 | 765 | 807 | 854 | 478 | 441 | 557 | 81 |
| Brazil | 90 | 84 | 60 | 50 | 50 | 50 | 55 | 55 | 310 | 165 | 190 | 210 | 200 | 200 | 213 | 216 | 176 | 180 | 180 | 180 |
| Canada | 86 | 93 | 48 | 25 | 36 | 33 | 55 | 49 | 57 | 54 | 57 | 77 | 58 | 55 | 57 | 63 | 56 | 45 | 40 | 25 |
| D.R. Congo | 10 | 16 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 1 | -- | -- | NA | NA | 130 | 60 | 30 | 15 | 20 | 33 | 14 | 71 | 100 | 87 |
| Africa, excl. DR Congo |
45 | 66 | 59 | 59 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 82 | 76 | 208 | 173 | 242 | 245 | 333 | 214 | 146 | 135 | 313 | 297 |
| WORLD | 396 | 477 | 399 | 310 | 333 | 361 | 389 | 409 | 779 | 645 | 1070 | 1180 | 1470 | 1280 | 1430 | 1380 | 870 | 872 | 1190 | 670 |
| 1990-1993: U.S. Geological Survey, "1994 Minerals Yearbook" (MYB), "COLUMBIUM (NIOBIUM) AND TANTALUM" By Larry D. Cunningham, Table 10; 1994-1997: MYB 1998, Table 10; 1998-2001: MYB 2002, p. 21.13; 2002-2003: MYB 2004, p. 20.13; 2004: MYB 2008, p. 52.12; 2005-2009: MYB 2009, p. 52.13. USGS did not report data for other countries (China, Kazakhstan, Russia, etc.) owing to data uncertainties. |
||||||||||||||||||||
| NA Not available. -- Zero. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| % of global mined tantalum production | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | |
| Australia | 41.7% | 45.7% | 56.1% | 54.8% | 71.5% | 75.9% | 71.0% | 73.8% | 42.4% | 54.3% | 45.3% | 55.9% | 63.9% | 59.8% | 56.4% | 61.9% | 54.9% | 50.6% | 46.8% | 12.1% |
| Brazil | 22.7% | 17.6% | 15.0% | 16.1% | 15.0% | 13.9% | 14.1% | 13.4% | 39.8% | 25.6% | 17.8% | 17.8% | 13.6% | 15.6% | 14.9% | 15.7% | 20.2% | 20.6% | 15.1% | 26.9% |
| Canada | 21.7% | 19.5% | 12.0% | 8.1% | 10.8% | 9.1% | 14.1% | 12.0% | 7.3% | 8.4% | 5.3% | 6.5% | 3.9% | 4.3% | 4.0% | 4.6% | 6.4% | 5.2% | 3.4% | 3.7% |
| D.R. Congo | 2.5% | 3.4% | 2.0% | 1.9% | 0.3% | 0.3% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 12.1% | 5.1% | 2.0% | 1.2% | 1.4% | 2.4% | 1.6% | 8.1% | 8.4% | 13.0% |
| Africa. excl. DR Congo |
11.4% | 13.8% | 14.8% | 19.0% | 2.4% | 0.8% | 0.8% | 0.7% | 10.5% | 11.8% | 19.4% | 14.7% | 16.5% | 19.1% | 23.3% | 15.5% | 16.8% | 15.5% | 26.3% | 44.3% |
| WORLD | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% |
Read more about this topic: Coltan
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