Short & Light, I don’t expect as many readers as for the Lithium edition. I’m not predicting price trends, I’m not long nor short, purely a general overview for educational purposes. Enjoy!

Niobium (Nb) is a metal that has been used in industrial applications for over a century, with a diverse range of uses across various sectors. It is primarily used as an alloying element (Ferroniobium, FeNb, containing around 65% niobium), with steel, aluminum, and other metals, and is valued for its high strength, toughness, and corrosion resistance. Niobium is also used in superalloys for jet engines and gas turbines, as well as in high-temperature applications such as nuclear reactors. Niobium is a rare, soft, shiny, grey-white, ductile transition metal. It is primarily found in the minerals pyrochlore (Nb>Ta), columbite (Nb>Ta) and tantalite (Ta>Nb).

In layman’s terms:

If you add 300gr of Niobium to a car chassis, it reduces the required steel content by 200kg. ( Paul Savich, CEO of WA1 Resources)

Lack of any direct substitutes; Vanadium closest substitute for strength, however only where low-temperature toughness is not required. On the other side, FeNb could benefit from higher prices of ferrovanadium, for which ferroniobium is a viable substitute in some steel applications.

The concentration of the supply (see below) coupled with the importance to the industry, makes it so that Niobium is on every ‘Critical Minerals’ list, from the EU to the US.

Now the fun stuff;

Supply

The majority of the world’s niobium production comes from Brazil, which accounts for approximately 90% of global supply. The leading niobium producer in Brazil is the mining company CBMM (Companhia Brasileira de Metalurgia e Mineração), which operates the Araxá niobium mine in the state of Minas Gerais. The mine has been in operation since the 1950s and produces over 85% of the world’s niobium supply.

Apart from Brazil, niobium is also produced in other countries such as Canada, Australia, and Nigeria, but on a much smaller scale. In Canada, the Niobec mine in Quebec is the second-largest producer of niobium in the world, with an annual production capacity of around 7,000 metric tons. In Australia, the Greenbushes mine in Western Australia also produces niobium as a byproduct of its lithium mining operations.

The global supply of niobium is considered to be relatively stable, as the majority of production comes from a few well-established mines. However, there are some concerns about the potential for supply disruptions due to geopolitical factors and resource nationalism in Brazil, which could impact the global niobium market. Niobium can also be mined as a byproduct of other metals such as tantalum, tin, and tungsten.

For almost 50 years now, only 3 primary niobium mines are responsible for global supply:

Niobec (Québec, Canada)
• Deposit: Carbonatite
• Share in world supply: ~7% 
• Average grade: 0.4-0.53% Nb2O5
• Owned by Magris Resources, a privately-held company (purchased from IAMGold for $500 million CAD in 2015)

Catalao (Brazil) 
• Deposit: Carbonatite
• Share in world supply: ~7%
• Average grade: 0.9-1.3% Nb2O5
• Owned by China Molybdenum since April 2016 ($1.5 billion transaction with Anglo American)

Araxa (Brazil)
• Deposit: Carbonatite
• Share in world supply: ~85% 
• Average grade: ~2.5% Nb2O5 (but with a 50% recovery)
• Owned by CBMM (Companhia Brasileira de Metalurgia e Mineração)

Brazil has the world‘s largest niobium reserves (98.5%), followed by Canada (1%) and Australia (0.5%). Brazilian niobium reserves total about 840 million t of Nb2O5, with an average grade of 0.73%. The only 2 Brazilian niobium mines are Araxá and Catalão with reserve grades of about 1.2% Nb2O5 (resources at 0.93% Nb2O5). Most of the current exploration, development, and operating mines for niobium have grades between 0.3% and 1.2% Nb2O5 (apart from Araxa averaging 2.5% Nb2O5). 

Demand

Very short, the consensus between the variously checked analyst reports, is that the market will keep growing at a steady pace (~5% CAGR). It is a small niche market still, at roughly $1.5-2B. It’s a very mature market with 50-100 main consumers. High Strength Low Alloy (HSLA) steels constitute an important category of steels estimated to be around 12% of total world steel production. Many, but not all, use FeNb, so there is a pathway to grow considerable market share.

One example:

More interesting is the demand split per country; (Mind you this data is 10y old)

Flow

Deposit types

Niobium deposits associated with peralkaline granites and syenites are typically less than 100 million tonnes in size and have ore grades of between 0.1 and 1 wt. % Nb2O5, contained in ore minerals such as columbite, eudialyte and loparite. Alkaline magmas responsible for the formation of these deposits are derived by melting of enriched sub-continental lithospheric mantle and are typically enriched in the high field strength elements (HFSE) (i.e. niobium, zirconium and rare earth elements). These incompatible (i.e. elements that become concentrated in molten magma rather than early crystallising solid minerals) HFSE are further upgraded by magmatic (e.g. fractional crystallisation) and/or hydrothermal processes (BGS, 2011).

Carbonatite Deposits

Carbonatite-hosted niobium deposits can be divided into primary and secondary deposit types. Primary deposits are generally in the tens of millions of tonnes size range and typically have ore grades of less than 1 wt. % Nb2O5. Carbonatites are found in areas of crustal extension or rifting and are thought to be derived from direct melting of the mantle. They are enriched in HFSE (e.g. niobium, zirconium and rare earth elements), but also barium, strontium, thorium and uranium. Important ore minerals in these rocks include perovskite and pyrochlore, and niobium-rich silicates such as titanite (BGS,2011). Secondary niobium deposits are associated with deep, tropical weathering of carbonatites and are typically very large (up to 1,000 million tonnes) and have very high ore grades (up to 3 wt. % Nb2O5 in lateritic deposits, but as high as 12 wt. % Nb2O5 in some residual placers). Pyrochlore is the most common ore mineral in these secondary ore deposits (BGS, 2011).

Jody Dahrouge of Dahrouge Geological Consulting once said: “Carbonatite is an extremely rare rock type with only around 550 complexes identified worldwide. In addition to their rarity, they are also well-known for being the source of production for a plethora of commodities, including being the dominant source for niobium and rare earth elements (REEs).“

Carbonatites are an important exploration target because of their potential to host large, commonly bulk-minable niobium (with lesser amounts of tantalum) resources. About 80 percent of carbonatites are associated with silicate rocks, the majority of which are highly alkaline (Woolley and Bailey, 2012). Not all alkaline complexes and provinces contain carbonatites, however. (Source)

Mining

Niobium is chiefly mined as a primary product. Near-surface niobium deposits are typically exploited by open-pit mining methods, which commonly involve removing overburden, digging or blasting the ore, followed by removal of the ore by truck or conveyor belt for stockpiling prior to processing. Deeply buried niobium deposits are mined underground using conventional mining methods, such as room and pillar, where mining progresses in a horizontal direction by developing numerous stopes, or rooms, leaving pillars of material for roof support. Ore is blasted and then transported by rail, conveyor or dump truck to the processing plant. Regardless of the mining method employed primary niobium ores are first crushed in jaw, cone or impact crushers and milled in rod or ball mills operating in closed circuits with vibrating screens and screw classifiers to liberate niobium mineral particles. The slurry containing niobium and waste rock is further concentrated to around 54% niobium oxide using a number of methods in multiple stages: gravity separation, froth flotation, magnetic and electrostatic separation, and acid leaching may be used, depending on the physical and chemical characteristics of the ore (BGS, 2011).

Pricing

Cheers, Panda

• Junior Mining spoilers series
• Niobium – A retail starters pack
• Lithium supply – A retail starters pack
• Panda’s main Lessons Learned for 2022
• The case for Tin – A retail starters pack