A brief introduction to tantalum and niobium ore

A general term for minerals containing tantalum and niobium. There are over a hundred species.
Among them can be used as ore mining, mainly by tantalite, niobium and pyrochlorite. Tantalum niobium is a rare metal with high melting point (Ta 2996℃, Nb 2468℃) and high boiling point (Ta 5427℃, Nb 5127℃). It has the appearance of steel, gray luster and dark gray powder. It has the characteristics of inspiratory, corrosion resistance, superconductivity, unipolar conductivity and high strength at high temperature. Used for preparing tantalum oxide, niobium oxide, refining tantalum, niobium, etc.

Tantalum and niobium are rare metals with high melting point, which have many excellent properties and are important raw materials in modern industry. Niobium was discovered in 1801 and tantalum in 1802.

The content in the crust (i.e. the atomic Clark value of tantalum and niobium) is 2.1×10-4 for tantalum and 2.4 ×10^-3 for niobium. Due to the low grade, complex composition, difficult extraction and high price of ore, its production and application were later than that of ordinary metals, and it was not formally produced until the 1950s.

Before the liberation of China, tantalum and niobium production was still a blank spot. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, tantalum and niobium resource exploration was started. In 1958, tantalum and niobium mineral processing research was carried out. It has made significant contributions to national defense construction and the development of cutting-edge science and technology.

Before World War II, the demand of tantalum and niobium was less than 10 tons. With the development of new technology, the demand of tantalum and niobium is increasing day by day. In the future, the exploitation of tantalum resources will gradually shift from pegmatite deposits to gas-hydrothermal deposits.

The development of niobium resources focuses on carbonatite chlorite deposits and exogenous niobite deposits. As the grade of raw tantalum ore decreases year by year and the production cost increases, gravity processing will still play a dominant role.

Flotation is a promising method for fine tantalum-niobium ore, and the combined process of beneficiation and smelting is the most promising process for comprehensive recovery. Flotation will still be the main method for separation of carbonatite chlorite.