Basic Facts

(http://www.lm.liverpool.k12.ny.us/HyperChart/periodicchart/p.c.gifs/tantalum.GIF)

● Where it is found: Tantalum ores are mined in Australia, Brazil, 

Mozambique, Thailand, Portugal, Malaysia, Nigeria, Zaire, Canada,

and The Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Democratic Republic

of the Congo is thought to have 80% of the world's supply of tantalum.

The Congo is a politically unstable area and the mining area is also 

within one of the main ranges of the threatened Eastern Lowland Gorilla.

The Rwandan occupation in the east of the Congo has meant the DRC

has been unable to exploit the resource for its own benefit. A recent UN

Security Council report charged that a great deal of the ore is mined

illegally and smuggled over the country's eastern borders by militias 

from neighbouring Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda. Estimates have 

indicated the Rwandan army profited at least $250 million in as little 

as 18 months from the sale of Coltan. However, these estimates are 

problematic as Rwanda posesses its own coltan deposits, making the 

smuggled mineral difficult to identify.

● How is it obtained: Tantalum is found primarily in the mineral

columbite-tantalite (Fe, Mn)(Nb, Ta)₂O₆. Tantalum is prepared

by the electrolysis of fused potassium tantalifluoride or of 

tantalum compounds dissolved in dilute sulfuric acid.

● Chemical Properties/Reaction Tendencies: Tantalum is

a gray blue color, and highly conductive of heat and electricity.

It is almost completely immune to chemical attack at 

temperatures below 150oC. At high temperatures, tantalum

becomes much more reactive. Tantalum can only be dissolved 

with hydrofluoric acid or acidic solutions containing the fluoride

ion and sulfur trioxide. Tungsten and rhenium, are the only two

elements with higher melting points than tantalum.