Niobium

About Niobium

Niobium and tantalum have a strong geochemical coherence and usually occur together in nature.  Besides tantalum, niobium is most commonly associated with thorium, titanium and lanthanides (REE).  Niobium (Nb) is soft and ductile and characterized by high melting and boiling points. 

Most niobium is obtained from deposits of pyrochlore (the host mineral at Motzfeldt), which can be directly converted to ferro-niobium (FeNb) or used to produce niobium pentoxide (Nb₂O₅), the starting point for the manufacture of most other niobium end products.

Uses of Niobium

Niobium is used mainly as an alloying addition to steel in the form of ferro-niobium (FeNb), where it brings high temperature strength and corrosion resistance to gas pipelines, automobile components and structural steel.  Outside the steel industry, the largest use for niobium is as vacuum-grade ferro-niobium and nickel-niobium in the production of super alloys for aircraft engines, land-based power generation and other applications.  Super alloys account for 6% -7% of niobium consumption.

Summary of applications for niobium Source; Roskill Information Services
Form of Nb	Applications	Principal markets
HSLA FeNb	High-strength low-alloy (HSLA) steels	Automobiles, gas line pipe, construction, heavy engineering
	Stainless and heat-resistant steels	Automobiles, petrochemical and power plants
Vacuum-grade FeNb and NiNb	Super alloys	Aircraft engines, electricity generation, petrochemicals
Nb metal and alloys	Superconductors	Particle accelerators, magnetic resonance imaging, various small-tonnage uses
Nb chemicals	Functional ceramics and catalysts	Optical, electronics

Supply and Demand

There are currently only three significant producers of niobium from pyrochlore in the world, namely Companhia Brasileira de Metalurgia e Mineração (CBMM) and Anglo American, in Brazil, and Niobec, in Canada.  These three companies account for approximately 85% of the world’s production of niobium, with CBMM very much the largest producer.  End users of niobium include major specialty alloy producers such as Cabot, HC Starck and Treibacher AG.

Consumption of niobium has grown strongly over the past decade as shown in the graph below.  This growth in demand has come about as a result of both increasing global production of steel and the rising use of high quality steels that contain niobium.  At present, niobium is contained in about 10% of the steel produced worldwide; there is good potential for that share to increase to as much as 20% in future.

High Strength Low Alloy (“HSLA”) steels are the main market for niobium, although such steels form only a small part of the overall steel sector; currently about 10% of total output but likely to grow significantly.  Even during the reduced demand for steel during 2008-2009, the demand for natural gas linepipe, the main application for HSLA steel, is healthy and is expected to remain so.

Pricing and Outlook

Niobium prices, particularly those for ferro-niobium,  historically were very stable.  From 1990 -2006, the average export price of Brazilian ferro-niobium remained within the range of US$12-14/kg contained Nb.  That changed in 2007 and into 2008 when spot prices increased in response to demand and increased capacity (particularly at CBMM) to above US$40/kg.  At November 2010 spot prices are of ferro niobium (Nb₂0₅) at US$41-43/kg contained Nb.