TANTALUM-A RARE METAL IN ABUNDANCE?

摘要

This article is based on the paper given by Mr Richard Burt, President of GraviTa Inc., on October 20th 2009, as part of the Fiftieth General Assembly held in Tallinn, Estonia. Tantalum is classified as a rare metal. How rare is it? Is it really in short supply, or is there enough for the foreseeable future? This article presents one person's view as to the abundance -or lack thereof - of potential future tantalum supply and it will attempt to shed some light on the often confusing information that is published in the technical and popular press. The article takes a holistic approach: rather than concentrating on a few well known deposits it will attempt to collate information on as many deposits as possible. It discusses and differentiates between geologic occurrences, resources and reserves, and the increasing level of information that becomes available - not only geological information, but mineralogical, metallurgical and cost information.