Ethiopia: Tantalum is used in a range of other applications requiring high corrosive resistance and high temperature strength including surgical implants, cemented carbides and tantalum compounds for optical applications and sonic acoustic wave filters. Ethiopian tantalum is estimated to make up about 1 ppm or 2 ppm of the earth crust weight. There are many species of tantalum in different part of Ethiopia, minerals which include tantalite, microlite, wodginite, euxenite and polycrase and most are contained in pegmatite ore bodies. which contributed 6 per cent to the total global tantalum production in 2008, according to data from the Ethiopian Geological Survey, is currently mapping out diversification schemes that will help wean its economy. Ethiopia: This is a pegmatite sheet of thickness 40-100 metres exposed over 2 km and mined open cut. Annual production is approx.270, 000 lbs of contained Ta2O5 concentrate grading 50-70%. The actual demand for 2010 is not known but indications are that it was significantly higher than 2008 in view of electronic component demand estimated to have risen approx. 30%. According to Paumanok Publications Inc. in the period 2010 to 2015 inclusive the demand for Ethiopia tantalum is forecast to grow at an accelerated rate of 9.2% as the market rebounds from the significant downturn in 2008.