: a dull black ore that consists of a mixture of columbite and tantalite and is a minor source of tantalum
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Congo produced about 40% of the world’s coltan in 2023, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, with Australia, Canada and Brazil being other major suppliers.
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David Yusufu Kibingila, Los Angeles Times, 23 May 2025
Over the past month, M23’s lightning advances have expanded its control over North Kivu province’s lucrative coltan, gold and tin ore mines, uprooting thousands in what was already one of the world’s most dire humanitarian crises.
—Reuters, CNN, 8 Feb. 2025
Roughly the size of Western Europe, the war-riven country is endowed with vast mineral wealth, including the world’s largest reserves of cobalt and coltan – both critical to the production of electronics.
—Nimi Princewill, CNN, 12 Feb. 2025
Gold is abundant in the region, which also has rich deposits of rare metals such as coltan, used to make capacitors, and niobium, used to make superalloys for jet engines and hypersonic missiles.
—Emmet Livingstone, The Dial, 20 Mar. 2025
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David Yusufu Kibingila, Los Angeles Times, 23 May 2025
Over the past month, M23’s lightning advances have expanded its control over North Kivu province’s lucrative coltan, gold and tin ore mines, uprooting thousands in what was already one of the world’s most dire humanitarian crises.
—Reuters, CNN, 8 Feb. 2025
Roughly the size of Western Europe, the war-riven country is endowed with vast mineral wealth, including the world’s largest reserves of cobalt and coltan – both critical to the production of electronics.
—Nimi Princewill, CNN, 12 Feb. 2025
Gold is abundant in the region, which also has rich deposits of rare metals such as coltan, used to make capacitors, and niobium, used to make superalloys for jet engines and hypersonic missiles.
—Emmet Livingstone, The Dial, 20 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for coltan
Cite this Entry
“Coltan.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/coltan. Accessed 6 Jun. 2025.
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