First, the price of tantalum ore is completely decided by the buyer and seller through negotiation. Tantalum is one of the rare metals, the content in the earth's crust is 0.0002%, often in nature and niobium symbiosis, if the mineral tantalum content is relatively high, it is called tantalum, and vice versa, niobium. Tantalum concentrates are purchased and sold through a network of dealers and contracts between producers and consumers, with no futures market. Since many industry participants engaged in the production, trade and consumption of tantalum do not publish statistical information, and tantalum ores produced in African countries such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo are classified as conflict minerals, there is a certain amount of unofficial trading.
Second, the instability of market supply and demand causes the price of tantalum ore to fluctuate greatly, showing a cyclical fluctuation. Since 2005, the price of tantalum ore has experienced three peak cycles, and by the end of 2023, it closed at 66.99 US dollars/pound (equivalent to 147,687.7 US dollars/ton), up 67.5% compared with 2005. Before 2009, the price of tantalum ore was 30 to 50 US dollars/pound. In 2011, the global economy gradually recovered after the financial crisis, the rise of consumer electronics industries such as smartphones and mobile Internet, the increase in demand for tantalum, the closure of the largest tantalum mine in Australia on the supply side, combined with the impact of the Dodd-Frank Act, the price of tantalum rose rapidly to the highest 135 US dollars/pound, and then the price began to shake down. In 2018, under the influence of the high-end and intelligent development of the industry, the demand for intelligent consumer products continued to grow, and the price of tantalum ore climbed again to $107.5 / pound, but failed to exceed the first peak. Later, affected by the epidemic and other factors, the price of tantalum ore fell rapidly. In 2022, in the post-epidemic era, the global demand for 5G communications, artificial intelligence, and commercial aerospace is growing rapidly, and the price of tantalum ore has fluctuated to a high of $113.98 / pound, and by the end of 2023, the price is $66.99 / pound.
