Step 1: Mining in Rwanda, Africa

Step 2: Refining in Macedonia, Greece

Step 3: Manufacturing in the USA

Step 4: Shipping from the USA

Step 5: Final Assembly in China, Asia

Step 6: Distribution to Consumers

The African country of Rwanda is the world’s biggest supplier of tantalum: a rare mineral used to make capacitors found in devices like smartphones and laptops. In 2014, most of the world’s tantalum mines were exported by Rwanda and DRC, including 600 tons from Rwanda and 200 tons from DRC, accounting for more than 70% of the world’s tantalum output.

Tantalum ore can be refined into tantalum metal and processed into various tantalum products, which are widely used in modern industry. For example, tantalum crucible is used in manufacturing super-alloys and electron-beam melting; tantalum ribbon can be used as a light source material for halogen lamps, sodium lamps, auto lamps, quartz glass lamps, etc.; tantalum plate is used in manufacturing superalloys and electron-beam melting, and so on.

Stanford Advanced Materials supplies high-quality tungsten products to meet our customers’ R&D and production needs. Please visit https://www.samaterials.com for more information.