Tantalum: The Global Supply Chain

Tantalum is a little-known mineral, critical for products such as jet engines, semiconductors, and consumer electronics.

While the U.S. tantalum supply chain has some key strengths, including mineral sourcing from an ally (Australia), a major domestic refinery, a large U.S. secondary industry, and downstream U.S. production, Silverado Policy Accelerator’s new report reveals 2 major long-term concerns:

1. First, the global market relies heavily on China for the refining of tantalum ores and would be severely impacted by a disruption in the supply from China. In collaboration with WireScreen, the report’s analysis finds the Chinese government plays a significant role in the sector and is helping to fuel large capacity expansions.
2. Second, Africa is playing an increasingly dominant role in the supply chain — led by production in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, and Rwanda — including in regions where ongoing conflicts threaten to disrupt the global tantalum supply.