Tantalum, niobium, and their oxides are important precursor materials, essential for high-temperature alloys and electronic devices. The primary hydrometallurgical extraction technique to extract tantalum and niobium from minerals involves hydrofluoric acid (HF) digestion of the concentrates, followed by solvent extraction as an oxide separation and purification step. Solvent extraction, on the other hand, releases organic solvents which are lost irreversibly via natural evaporation during the process. This research demonstrates a novel chemical process for the extraction and refining of columbite and tantalite concentrates (29% Ta₂O₅ and 16% Nb₂O₅). In this process, the concentrates are reduced using carbon and alkali in the temperature range of 800–950 °C, which helps in reducing and magnetically separating the iron oxides present in the concentrates as metallic iron. The remaining residue is rich in alkali complex (e.g., sodium tantalates and niobates) formed during the roasting process which was reclaimed as a purified mixture of oxides of Nb₂O₅ and Ta₂O₅, by using oxalic acid leaching, followed by sodium bisulphate roasting.

钽、铌及其氧化物是重要的前体材料，对高温合金和电子设备必不可少。从矿物中提取钽和铌的主要湿法冶金提取技术包括对浓缩物进行氢氟酸 (HF) 消化，然后是溶剂提取作为氧化物分离和纯化步骤。另一方面，溶剂萃取会释放有机溶剂，这些有机溶剂会在该过程中通过自然蒸发不可逆地流失。本研究展示了一种用于提取和精炼铌铁矿和钽铁矿精矿（29% Ta ₂ O ₅和 16% Nb ₂ O ₅）。在此过程中，使用碳和碱在 800-950 °C 的温度范围内还原精矿，这有助于将精矿中存在的氧化铁还原为金属铁并将其磁性分离。剩余的残余物富含在焙烧过程中形成的碱金属络合物（例如钽酸钠和铌酸钠），通过使用草酸浸出，然后使用钠，将其回收为 Nb ₂ O ₅和 Ta ₂ O ₅的氧化物的纯化混合物硫酸氢盐焙烧。