Fig. 4. Trade of tantalum-containing materials in the United States between 2002 and 2020 by material category

Fig. 4. Results of the STAN2 material flow analysis (MFA) model for tantalum in the United States for the years 2002 through 2020. Top (A): annual consumption (quantity put into use) of tantalum in each of our 16 modeled end-use categories. Estimates of primary and trade-adjusted consumption (calculated as the simple mass balance of trade plus changes in U.S. Government stockpiles as described in greater detail in the Fig. 2 caption) are also plotted as dashed lines for comparison. Bottom (B): total cumulative consumption (“Ta put into use”) of tantalum between 2002 and 2020, plotted along with total cumulative stocks of tantalum remaining in use (“Ta remaining in use”), total cumulative tantalum disposals (“Ta disposals” which includes processing losses and losses in use), primary consumption (“Primary consumption” as typically estimated; see Fig. 2 caption), and total cumulative global primary (mining) tantalum production (“Ta extracted”) for the same time period.