H.C. Starck tantalum production facility (Newton, Massachusetts)

Half of the world's tantalum is processed at a Bayer-owned facility built in a rural area of Newton in the late 1940s, now surrounded by residential homes. Tom's source for the tantalum tube he passes around.

[Tom holds up a tantalum tube.] Titanium forms a very protective oxide skin. Tantalum forms a very protective oxide skin. The problem with tantalum is, it's a little bit pricey — it costs about the same as silver. One of the world's largest tantalum producers is H.C. Starck, right over here in Newton, Massachusetts. Right among all those homes. When H.C. Starck built their factory over there, it was all rural — this is the late 1940s. It's now owned by Bayer Chemical, which is number one or two with DuPont, the world's largest chemical company. About half of all the world's tantalum is processed in that factory, with all these little residential homes around it sixty years later. I don't like this factory right in the middle of that, but that's where I got a tantalum tube from them.