China To Restrict Exports Of Critical Chipmaking Metals Gallium And Germanium In Escalated Tech War

The Democratic Republic of the Congo remains the world’s leading tantalum producer. The harmonised 2025 statistics used for this analysis report 1,434.17 tonnes of coltan, with 88.1% attributed to artisanal mining. They also reveal a supply chain concentrated in a few provinces and firms, wide export unit-value differences and official totals that do not fully agree. The central issue is therefore not only how much Congo produces, but how well each tonne is recorded from mine to export.

[SMM Tantalum Flash] Sinomine Resources said a groundbreaking ceremony for a second tantalum-niobium recovery plant took place at its Bikita operation in Zimbabwe on 25 September. The company says the plant is designed to treat 450,000 tonnes of ore a year and produce 500–600 tonnes of combined tantalum-niobium concentrate annually. It expects construction and commissioning in 2027; those volumes are design targets, not current output. The project would expand recovery of critical metals associated with Bikita’s lithium operation and add processing capacity in Zimbabwe. Sinomine plans to use magnetic separation and shaking tables to extract tantalum-niobium concentrate from lithium concentrate. The ceremony marks the project’s launch; completed construction, actual throughput and recovered volumes remain to be demonstrated.

[SMM Niobium Flash] Globe Metals & Mining said on 28 September that Malawi’s Mining and Minerals Regulatory Authority had specified what the company must start building at its Kanyika niobium-tantalum project. The guidance, received on 25 September, sets a six-month period from that date to demonstrate substantial on-site development. The works include, where applicable, starting a processing plant, tailings storage facility, site offices and run-of-mine pad. Globe said the directive still requires ratification by the authority’s board. The guidance clarifies Kanyika’s next steps after its previous 27 September deadline to begin substantial mining operations. Globe reports that preparatory road and stockpile works have been completed, but it must still agree detailed engineering measures with regulators and demonstrate the required permanent works. Its aim of commercial production in early 2028 remains a company target.