Vacuum-grade FeNb and NiNb
Superalloys
Nickel superalloys such as Alloy 718 carry about 5% niobium. Buyers: jet engine and gas turbine makers.
explainer · niobium
Mined at 1%. Shipped at 65%. Built in at 0.05%.
Niobium is concentrated about 65-fold between the pit and the converter, then spread thinly through steel. Follow it from the carbonatite mines of Minas Gerais and Goiás to the car, pipeline or bridge that uses it, and see which record has to travel with it at each handover.
seven stages
From pyrochlore ore to finished steel
Select a stage to see what happens there, who does it, and which record moves with the material. The bars show niobium content by mass on a log scale.
Niobium content is % niobium by mass, typical ranges, rounded. Ore and concentrate are usually graded as Nb2O5; they are converted to niobium here so every stage uses one scale.
scale
A small, concentrated supply base
~93%
of the world’s mined niobium came from Brazil in 2025 (USGS estimate).
2
Brazilian producers: CBMM at Araxá, Minas Gerais, and CMOC Brasil at Catalão, Goiás. Each mines, concentrates and converts on site.
~90%
of niobium is used in steel, added as ferroniobium.
1,300 t+
of HSLA steel can be microalloyed with one tonne of ferroniobium, at 0.02 to 0.05% niobium.
branch at stage 03
The specialty route
About a tenth of niobium skips the steel ladle. Producers refine it further for uses where purity matters more than tonnage.
Niobium metal and NbTi
Superconductors
Niobium-titanium wire for MRI magnets, and pure niobium for accelerator cavities. Buyers: medical imaging and research labs.
High-purity niobium oxide
Chemicals and batteries
Optical glass, capacitors and niobium-based battery anodes. Buyers: electronics and battery makers.
traceability
Where the record usually breaks
- At the ladleOne ferroniobium lot feeds many steel heats, and one heat can draw on more than one lot. Few mills link lot numbers to heat numbers.
- At the fabricatorA heat is split across coils, plates, pipes and parts. The heat number survives on the certificate, but the FeNb lot behind it rarely does.
- At the end customerNiobium is almost never named on a bill of materials, so origin questions stop at the steel supplier.
Our traceability rollouts link these records, from mine lot to finished part, so a claim about origin holds up when a customer or regulator asks for it.
Planning a traceability rollout, or one that has stalled after the pilot? Book a 30-minute call.
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The whole chain on one image
A 1080 × 1350 image of the seven stages, sized for LinkedIn. Free to share with a link back to this page.
Sources
Figures are rounded. Ranges are typical industry values, not data for a specific plant.
- USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2025: Niobium and 2026 edition (production by country)
- CBMM: Araxá operations infographic (mine to ferroniobium flowsheet)
- Britannica: Niobium processing (concentrate grades, aluminothermic reduction)
- Total Materia: Application of microalloyed HSLA steel (0.02 to 0.05% Nb)
- Project Blue: ferroniobium producer shares