Brazilian niobium carves out an energy niche

Financial Times

Among Brazil’s abundant mineral riches — from iron ore and gold to precious stones and copper — is one niche metal that almost no other country can claim to produce at scale: niobium.

The dominant producer, Companhia Brasileira de Metalurgia e Mineração (CBMM), is exploring new applications and believes the chemical element has a key role to play in electric batteries, for such vehicles as buses and trucks.

CBMM reckons its mining and manufacturing complex at Araxá, in Minas Gerais state, is responsible for three-quarters of global niobium supply.

For decades, the metal’s main use has been in alloys to strengthen steel. Very small amounts confer greater toughness, corrosion resistance and higher melting points.

Found in everything from automobile bodies to gas pipelines and atomic reactors, niobium is also used in high-tech devices such as jet engines and hospital MRI scanners.

Amid an international rush to secure raw commodities deemed vital for modern technologies, there is growing scrutiny of the strategic and geopolitical facets to niobium — not least since production is concentrated in just a few places.

The shiny grey metal is ranked the second-most “critical mineral” by the US Geological Survey, which estimates that 90 per cent of total output is from Brazil.

“Our country can be positioned as a very important supplier of materials for the energy transition,” says CBMM chief executive Ricardo Lima. “The most important property we can bring is fast charging,” he explains. “In the battery industry, we really have a great opportunity to be very successful.”

Founded in the 1950s and controlled by the Moreira Salles business dynasty, CBMM’s other shareholders are a Japanese-Korean grouping and a consortium of Chinese steelmakers.

Brazil’s other dedicated niobium mine was purchased by China’s CMOC in 2016. China is the main destination for Brazilian exports of the metal.

A report by the Washington DC-based think-tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) this year highlights this level of Chinese involvement, and the substance’s potential in military equipment, as reasons for US policymakers to be on alert. “In the grand chessboard of defence geopolitics, niobium has emerged as a piece of paramount importance,” write the researchers. 

With its usage long established in aerospace and astronautics — from the Nasa Apollo programme to SpaceX rockets — they described the metal as “indispensable” for critical components in hypersonic missiles. Capable of travelling five times the speed of sound, the weaponry is being developed by a number of nations, including the US

The full article is available here. This article was published at FT Markets.