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Niobium possesses a unique complex of properties like heat resistance, high thermal conductivity, elasticity, corrosion resistance and the ability to form a stable and adhesive layer of oxide. Due to these properties, niobium and its alloys are widely used in chemistry, metallurgy and electronics as well as in the medical, nuclear, and aerospace industries.
Uses of Niobium
Niobium is used mostly to make stainless steel and high-strength, low-alloy steels. These steels are used in large-diameter pipelines for oil and natural gas, in frames and wheels of cars and trucks and as microalloyed steel in structural applications. Niobium-containing microalloyed steels are used in automobiles, bridges, buildings and oil and gas pipelines: applications where a high strength-to-weight ratio is an important engineering consideration. This reduces weight and fabrication costs. Niobium is also used in cobalt-, iron- and nickel-based superalloys for jet-engine components, rocket subassemblies and combustion equipment: applications where strength at high temperature is an important engineering consideration.
World Consumption of Niobium
The estimated world consumption of niobium is 180M lb. Nb2O5 contained.
Main Sources of Niobium Raw Materials
The primary mineral from which niobium is obtained is known as pyrochlore. Most niobium resources occur as pyrochlore in carbonatite deposits in Brazil and Canada. The world's largest deposit is located in Araxá, Brazil and is owned by Companhia Brasileira de Metalurgia e Mineração (CBMM). CBMM is mining weathered ore, running between 2.5 and 3.0% Nb2O5, by simple open pit mining.
Another pyrochlore mine in Brazil is owned and operated by Mineração Catalão de Goiás Ltda. and contains 18 million tonnes at 1.34% niobium oxide. The third major deposit of pyrochlore being actively mined is the Niobec Mine in Quebec, Canada, jointly owned by IAMGOLD Corporation and Mazarin.
In all three facilities, the pyrochlore mineral is processed primarily by physical processing technology to give a concentrate ranging from 55% to about 60% niobium oxide.
These three companies produce about 85% of the world's demand for niobium products, with most of that product being in the form of high-strength, low-alloy ferroniobium containing a nominal 60% niobium oxide content.
Of note, the United States has not produced niobium since 1959, as deposits are low-grade and economically unrecoverable.
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