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Tantalum scrap and niobium, from electronics lines to chemical plants
We buy tantalum scrap and niobium scrap in solid pieces and trimmings, from anyone who has some. Ship it from anywhere in the US and we pay the shipping, or ask for a quote and a pickup in California, Arizona, Utah or Nevada.
What tantalum does, and where its scrap starts
Tantalum is the metal engineers pick when a part has to survive heat and chemicals. USGS describes it as used in materials and electronic components that must withstand high temperatures and harsh environments, and it is on the federal Final 2025 List of Critical Minerals.
Electronics take a large part of it. USGS Professional Paper 1802 (2017) names electronic capacitors as the leading use of tantalum for high-end applications, including cell phones, computer hard drives and implanted devices such as pacemakers. The same paper says chemical plants use tantalum to line pipes, tanks and vessels because it resists corrosion, and that it goes into many medical devices and surgical implants.
USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 says no tantalum has been mined in the United States after 1959. It adds that tantalum is recycled mostly from new scrap made while manufacturing tantalum electronic components, and from cemented carbide and superalloy scrap that contains it. Recycling may equal as much as 30 percent of what domestic primary processors consume (2025 data).
Sources: USGS: Final 2025 List of Critical Minerals; Federal Register, Final 2025 List of Critical Minerals; USGS Professional Paper 1802-M (2017); USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Tantalum.
Niobium mostly hides inside steel and superalloys
Niobium does most of its work as an additive. USGS says it is used to strengthen steel, and Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 puts US use at about 77 percent in steels and about 23 percent in superalloys (2025 data).
Steelmakers take it mostly as ferroniobium, while the aerospace industry uses niobium alloys and the metal itself. USGS says scrap recovery aimed at niobium content is negligible: the metal comes back when the niobium-bearing steels and superalloys around it are recycled, which may add up to 20 percent of apparent consumption.
So the niobium to set aside on its own is niobium metal and niobium alloy parts, the aerospace side. A nickel superalloy that carries a little niobium sells as a nickel alloy. USGS gave alloy 718, the most important niobium-containing superalloy in its 2004 study, about 5 percent niobium, and that kind of scrap belongs with our nickel alloys.
Sources: USGS: Final 2025 List of Critical Minerals; USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Niobium; USGS Circular 1196-A-M (2004).
When the tantalum is inside your carbide
Some carbide grades carry tantalum too, as tantalum carbide (TaC). ITIA, the tungsten industry association, says TaC additions widened carbide's use in machining steel, and typical threading insert grades carry it. A 2022 journal paper adds that TaC is one of the carbides included to keep tungsten carbide grains from growing too large during sintering.
That tantalum can be recovered when the carbide is recycled. A USGS report describes chemical processing of carbide scrap in which the tantalum is collected first, in an oxide sludge, and the tungsten and cobalt are extracted after.
So tantalum-bearing inserts stay in the carbide lot. Sell them with your other carbide inserts; scrap carbide in any form is the heart of what we buy, and selling scrap carbide explains how it works.
Sources: ITIA, Cemented carbides (2010 newsletter); OSTI 1981641 (2022 journal manuscript); USGS Open-File Report 01-349.
Sorting tantalum by weight, and where weight stops helping
Tantalum is heavy. NIST's X-ray table uses 16.65 g/cm3 for it, against 19.30 for pure tungsten. An NTP table lists tungsten carbide at 15.6, and an MIT course table puts common steels at 7.8.
So a tantalum offcut feels about twice as heavy as a steel piece of the same size (16.65 divided by 7.8 is about 2.1). Weight in the hand can pick tantalum out of a steel pile, but it cannot reliably tell tantalum from carbide or tungsten.
USGS describes how skilled sorters work alloy scrap: a first pass by shape, object recognition, color and weight, then tests such as a magnet, the spark pattern off a grinding wheel, or chemical or physical analysis. You only need the first pass. Bag tantalum, niobium, carbide and tungsten separately and label each one. A piece you cannot name gets its own bag and a note on where it came from.
Sources: NIST X-ray mass attenuation tables, Table 1; NTP Report on Carcinogens profile: cobalt-tungsten carbide; MIT 3.11 metals property table (1999); USGS Circular 1196-A-M (2004).
Tantalum and niobium pieces we take
- Sheet and plate offcuts, punchings and trimmings
- Rod, wire and tube ends
- Worn or rejected machined parts
- Pieces of tantalum lining from chemical equipment
- Niobium metal and niobium alloy pieces, bagged apart from the tantalum
Keep every bag clean and dry. If a piece came out of chemical service, tell us what it held before you pack it.
Tantalum scrap price, and how a sale works
Start with the quote form: pick exotic metals, give a rough weight and add photos of the pieces and any markings. You can also email the photos to help@carbidebuyersusa.com or call us.
We quote each lot on its own and post no tantalum scrap price, because the market swings. USGS reported that the value of US tantalum waste and scrap imports rose 40 percent in 2025 over 2024, while the value of primary metal fell 20 percent.
Send it from anywhere in the US and we pay the shipping; shipping your scrap covers packing a small, heavy box. In California, Arizona, Utah and Nevada we can also drive to you, in any city. We pay cash where state law allows it, and the scrap metal laws guide explains the state limits.
Common questions
My carbide inserts contain tantalum. Which pile do they go in?
The carbide pile. The tantalum carbide in an insert can be recovered when the carbide is processed, so sell those inserts with the rest of your carbide and keep metallic tantalum in its own bag.
Can you give me a niobium scrap price over the phone?
Not a posted one. We quote from photos, the form the metal is in and a rough weight, so the number fits your pieces. Send those through the quote form or by email.
What should I tell you about tantalum that came out of chemical service?
What the equipment held, how the pieces were cleaned and roughly how much there is, with photos. Put it in your quote request, before anything ships.
Do I have to ship tantalum to you, or can you collect it?
Either works. We pick up in any city in California, Arizona, Utah and Nevada. From the other states, you ship it and we cover the shipping cost.
More for sellers
Nickel alloys
Inconel, Hastelloy, Monel and other nickel alloys
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Tungsten and heavy alloy
Pure tungsten and tungsten heavy alloy
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Used inserts
Used indexable inserts, coated or not, chipped or worn
Learn more
Sell scrap carbide
Ship it from any state and we pay the shipping, or we come to you
Learn more
Ship your carbide
Packing heavy carbide so it arrives in one piece
Learn moreReady to sell your carbide?
Send a few photos and a rough weight. From any state, you ship it and we cover the shipping; in California, Arizona, Utah and Nevada, we drive out to you.