Even if you’ve never heard of coltan, chances are you have some in your home.  Coltan is an abbreviation for ‘columbo-tantalite’ a substance commonly used in the manufacture of mobile phones, gameboys and laptops.

Coltan is refined to produce tantalum a very stable and reliable powder used to manufacture miniature capacitors.  It is this attribute of tantalum which has seen its demand grow as consumers desire for electronic gadgets increase.  Almost 60% of tantalum is used in electronic equipment.  Other uses include jet engines, gas turbines and medical prosthetics.

A significant percentage of the world’s coltan can be found in Western Australia, Greenland, and Russia, the largest and most economically viable mining location is the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) in Central Africa. 

It is in the Congo where coltan can be easily mined with no more than a shovel, much like panning for gold.

Tantalum

Name - Tantalum

Symbol - Ta

Atomic number - 73

Atomic weight - 180.9479

Colour - blue grey

Specific gravity - 16.6

Melting point - 2,996°C

Tantalum has very high electrical conductivity and is highly ductile; it also has excellent corrosion resistance and is resistant to most acids. When combined in alloys it makes them resistant to corrosion and prevents oxidation, enabling smaller and lighter components to be used. In electronics it forms the basis of high-performance capacitors which perform a vital function, storing electricity for a short period of time and ensuring that the current supplied stays within narrowly defined parameters which are particularly useful in low-voltage applications such as mobile phones and lap top computers in which these tolerances can be very tight.

Tantalum was first discovered in 1802 by Anders Ekeberg, a professor at Uppsala University in Sweden. Because of the frustration that Ekeberg endured while trying to decompose the metal in acids, he named it Tantalum - after Tantalus, who was condemned by Zeus to stand up to his neck in water. Each time Tantalus stooped to drink, the water receded, while above him hung succulent fruits that the wind would blow just out of reach, this eternal frustration being punishment for killing his son and serving him to the gods as a stew.

The metal oxide discovered by Ekeberg was obtained from minerals taken from pegmatite (an igneous rock of course grain size) at Ytterby, Sweden, and Kimoto, Finland. Over the following decades several scientists discovered other facets of the new oxide, but it was not until 1844 that Heinrich Rose, who had studied under Berzelius, who in turn had studied under Ekeberg, was able to determine that the oxide contained two elements, tantalum and a second element that he named niobium, Niobe being the daughter of Tantalus.

Commercial use of tantalum began in 1903 with the production of tantalum wire. It when discovery it was considered nothing more than a laboratory curiosity, but it has been used in the filaments of early light-bulbs and has today become one of the most sought after and useful components  in the manufacture of miniaturised electronic equipment.