Tantalum and
niobium belong to refractory rare metals, which have similar physical and chemical properties and are always associated with each other in nature. At present, there are more than 130 kinds of niobium and tantalum minerals, and more than 30 kinds of them are common. Tantalum reserves are about 400,000 tons. The tantalum resources are mainly distributed in Australia, Africa and Brazil, and tantalite is mainly distributed in Canada, Russia, southeast Asia and China. According to relevant data, the distribution of tantalum reserves is as follows: 50% in Australia, 21% in Asia, 14% in Africa, 8% in the americas and 7% in the others. The world's largest tantalite is western Australia's Australia bush and green WoJie ore, the annual output of about 1134 tons, accounting for about 45% of the world's annual output, according to relevant data, our country has proven reserves of tantalum niobium ore less characteristic is scattered veins and complex mineral composition, about 4% of the world's reserves, the current production only can meet the required 20% tantalum industry in China, has to import most of the other. According to the investigation, China's tantalum ore grade is not high, the main tantalum grade is 0.01%, compared with Australia's tantalum grade 0.03%, mining cost is higher. In addition, the three best niobium resource sites in China are baotou, zalutchi (801 mine) and zhushan, hubei province. The average content of Nb2O5 in the original ore is only 0.1-0.3%, while Brazil alone has 460 million tons of burnt green stone with a boundary grade of 2% and an average grade of Nb2O5 in the original ore of 2.5%, which can be used worldwide for nearly 200 years.
After more than half a century of development, the world tantalum and niobium industry has reached a very high level. At present, the world's tantalum material manufacturers include Cabot group of the United States, HCST group of Germany and ningxia 905 plant of China. Major niobium producers include CBMM, Catalao Goias and Niobec of Canada.
