News from the tantalum industry

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1. The U.S.-based company NioCorp has entered into a 10-year underwriting agreement with Traxys to secure all future production of niobium, tantalum, titanium, and rare earth elements from the Elk Creek project; meanwhile, Traxys is making a strategic investment of $30 million. This move significantly enhances the feasibility of project financing, marking a key step forward in the development of a domestic tantalum and niobium supply chain in the United States. 2. The Hunan Provincial Department of Ecology and Environment has accepted the Environmental Impact Assessment Report for the project of Hunan Xianchuang Metal Materials Co., Ltd. to produce 2,000 tons of new tantalum and niobium materials per year. The project is located in Leiyang City, Hengyang, with a total investment of around 276 million yuan. It will produce 1,422 tons of niobium pentoxide and 580 tons of tantalum pentoxide per year, doubling the production capacity of the CNPC Huazhong project that has already been approved in the same industrial park. 3. The Lishui Municipal Ecology and Environment Bureau intends to approve the environmental impact assessment for the “R&D and Industrialization Project of High-Purity Tantalum Materials by Tongchuang (Lishui) Special Materials Co., Ltd.” The total investment for the project is 358 million yuan, and it is planned to build a new production line capable of producing 300 tons per year of high-purity tantalum target blanks. Public notice on the environmental impact assessment for the comprehensive treatment project (Phase I) of the Yichun tantalum-niobium tailings pond: the mining and processing capacity remains at 7,000 tons per day, with an annual output of 437 tons of tantalum-niobium concentrate, 127,300 tons of lithium mica, and 904,100 tons of feldspar powder. Source: Northern Non-ferrous Metals Network, 2026-04-19