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Niobium: myths vs. truths

January 7, 2020

Pedras de nióbio em duas mãos

The discovery of niobium dates back more than 200 years, its name is a reference to Greek gods and its fame has grown notably with the advance of the narrative of, at the time, federal deputy President Jair Bolsonaro.

The protagonist of the discussion here is Niobium, an element with atomic number 41 on the periodic table and with an average crustal concentration equal to that of the elements Lithium and Nitrogen, around 4,000 times greater than Gold, as recorded in the table in the Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 85 Edition.

First named columbium in 1801 by its discoverer Charles Hatchett, in reference to the place where the sample was collected, the United States, which at the time bore the popular name of Columbia, derived from the name of Christopher Columbus.

After being confused with tantalum, it wasn't until 1846 that Heinrich Rose proved that the elements were different. While the name columbium was still retained by some researchers, others adopted the name niobium in reference to Niobe, daughter of Tantalus in Greek mythology.

Grânulos de ferronióbio envasados em garrafas. As garrafas estão de cabeça para baixo.
Exemplo de granulado de Ferronióbio produzido pela CBMM

Its first use and discovery

Niobium's first industrial use was for the production of light bulb filaments, until tungsten took over the top spot. When the steel industry came to the conclusion that it was interesting to mix small portions of niobium with iron, the search for reserves of considerable volume became vigorous.

It was in the 1960s, in Araxá, that the first discovery was made. A partnership between Walther Moreira Salles and Molycorp gave birth to Companhia Brasileira de Metalurgia e Mineração (CBMM).

After the gradual purchase of Molycorp's share by the Moreira Sales Group, the company went public to a group of steel manufacturers and a Japanese-South Korean consortium.

Where does Brazil stand today?

With around 98% of the world's operating niobium deposits, Brazil is followed by Canada and Australia. According to statistics from the 2017 Brazilian Mineral Yearbook, still produced by the former DNPM, now ANM, Brazil's reserves total 842 million tons.

With 75% of this total in Araxá, another 21% are in non-commercial deposits in the Amazon and 4% in Catalão, in the operations of CMOC, a subsidiary of China Molybdenum.

CBMM's mine in Araxá, where the ore currently being mined is in the weathered zone.

But if we have the largest reserves, the largest producing mine, the holder of the best process for obtaining high purity metallic niobium, what is stopping us from generating income from this natural resource?

 

The following are some myths and truths about niobium:

  • Value and production;
  • Rarity;
  • Exclusivity and applications;
  • Worldwide greed - simple extraction, expensive processing;
  • Collection by Codemig;
  • Smuggling and connection with tantalum in the Amazon;

Production of niobium metal by CBMM.

The value and production of niobium

With an average price of US$ 40 / kilo, one of the myths is that the whitish metal is more valuable than gold, which is by far a fallacy, since gold reaches US$ 40,000 / kilo.

The limited absorption of the market has meant that the value of niobium has not fluctuated so sharply over the last decade, and this is also because ferroniobium is not a commodity. Its value is not traded on the stock exchange, but established by global demand, which has also been fairly stable over the last decade and is around 110,000 tons per year. If demand doesn't grow, the price doesn't tend to increase either.

Its applications have a low consumption of the material to achieve the required objective and performance gain. A typical example is that with the addition of just 300 grams of niobium, a ton of automotive steel becomes stronger and lighter, as shown in the text "The controversial niobium" jointly authored by Fapesp, Poli-Usp and Unicamp.

And its rarity?

Another widely circulated claim is that niobium is extremely rare and unique. Well, not from a geological point of view, but from a technological point of view, yes.

Geologically, as mentioned above, niobium has an average concentration in the earth's crust close to that of common elements such as nitrogen, which means that it is not rare in nature.

In addition, there are at least 90 known carbonatite complexes with similar genesis to the CBMM deposit, and of these, more than 50 have data published in the literature regarding their niobium resources.

From a technological and economic point of view, the position of the deposit, the shallower ore body, therefore the low cost of mining, and the high levels found in Brazil, make the condition of the Brazilian reserves rare/exceptional.

What's more, a large part of the minerals that carry the element have no established technological route that would allow them to be exploited. On the other hand, the treatment route for pyrochlore, the main niobium-bearing mineral in Brazilian reserves, is the national domain, and CBMM is responsible for supplying this niche of industry consumption.

Thus, the combination of reserves in a favorable position and condition, high contents and the mastery of a high-performance route for beneficiation and metallurgy create a condition of exceptionality for national niobium from a market perspective.

Exclusivity

Another important point to note is that the properties added to the steel obtained with the addition of niobium can also be obtained with the addition of other elements such as titanium and vanadium. Therefore, with an exacerbated increase in the price of niobium, these options would become more economically competitive.

The strategy of not making a nation's development of certain technologies conditional on the supply of an input that has a single supplier is a crucial geopolitical factor in understanding the international niobium market. In other words, several countries have opted to develop technologies and applications for other substitute elements rather than placing themselves in a position of dependence on the supply of niobium.

Examples such as vanadium from South Africa and Russia, and titanium from India, Canada and New Zealand, highlight countries that have chosen to exploit their own reserves rather than be exposed to the risk of niobium supply.

Recently, this risk has already been experienced on the international mineral scene with China's cuts in the supply of Rare Earth Elements.

Applications

The main products produced by CBMM and their applications are the ferroniobium alloy, with 65% Niobium and 35% Iron, which is directly used in the steel industry.

Niobium oxides are used in the manufacture of camera lenses, electric vehicle batteries and telescope lenses. Vacuum-grade niobium alloys, with a high level of purity, are used in the production of aeronautical turbines, rocket engines and land-based turbines for generating electricity.

Finally, metallic niobium is used in superconducting wires that equip tomographs, magnetic resonance devices and even plays a part in the LHD - CERN's famous particle accelerator.

The final product of metallic niobium are massive cylinders made up of 99% of the metal, and in this purity it has superconducting properties and high resistance to corrosion, presented by Tadeu Carneiro, president of CBMM, at the 2016 panel, which can be consulted at the link at the end of the text.

World greed

In fact, Niobium is coveted worldwide as a strategic mineral, since it can give steel a considerable increase in strength, thus guaranteeing the same reliability by using thinner steel sheets and materials, which are therefore lighter and ultimately more efficient in transportation systems and energy use.

 

State revenue via CODEMIG

CODEMIG has a dividend-sharing agreement with CBMM for leasing its areas in Araxá to the company. The agreement guarantees that the state keeps 25% of CBMM's net profits, received through the state-owned company. Due to the financial difficulties experienced at the moment, the state has put the privatization of the state-owned company on the agenda, as well as the advance of receivables from the profits of the agreement.

In 2018, the state of Minas Gerais received R$900 million from the operation, while the federal collection of CFEM was R$22 million.

 

Extraction in the Amazon

Finally, it is also a fact that niobium and tantalum are smuggled out of the Amazon via clandestine airports on illegal logging routes. Niobium is found together with tantalum in the mineral columbite-tantalite, typically mined in the garimpos of the Amazon.