Its primary source is commercially mined tantalum ores, the most abundant and widespread mineral of which is Tantalite. Tantalite occurs abundantly in western Australia, Brazil, Africa, Canada, Greenland, Thailand and Malaysia.
Tantalum is extracted from the ore and serves as constituents of corrosion-resistant metal alloys.
Traditionally tantalite is analysed by wet chemistry techniques. Samples are often sent to a major laboratory and results can take between four to six weeks to come back. The dealers who are buying the ore on site need a rapid answer, as immediate payment is expected. The requirement for a rapid, simple analysis at each mine makes benchtop XRF spectrometry the ideal analytical technique. In order to provide a cost-effective solution, we now offer a dedicated benchtop XRF Tantalite Analyser .