<p>Niobium and tantalum reserves are limited and unevenly distributed. As a result, there has been a growing search for sustainable alternatives, such as recovering these metals from secondary sources, such as metallurgical slag and electronic materials, using hydrometallurgical routes. In this context, the present study aimed to evaluate the performance of the ion exchange chelating resin XUS 43605, functionalized with the hydroxypropyl-picolylamine group, in the separation and recovery of niobium and tantalum. This approach has been little explored in the literature, especially regarding the application of this resin for such metals in continuous systems. The experiments were carried out in a continuous system, with variations in flow rate and bed volume for the adsorption stage and different eluents and acid concentrations for the elution stage. The adsorption results were obtained with efficiencies of 97% for niobium and 94% for tantalum. Elution was performed with 2-mol L⁻¹ HCl, followed by precipitation of the eluted solution. A solid containing 91.25% niobium pentoxide was obtained. As for resin regeneration, its stability was maintained over four regeneration cycles, with a loss of only two percentage points in efficiency. These results indicate the resin’s potential for recovering niobium and tantalum from secondary sources, such as slag.</p> Graphical Abstract <p></p>