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Niobium is one of the important strategic mineral resources. The density of metallic niobium is 8.57 g/cubic meter, the melting point is 2477°C, and the boiling point is 4744°C. It is a silver-gray, soft and ductile high-melting-point rare metal. Niobium does not react with inorganic acids or bases, is not soluble in aqua regia, and has strong corrosion resistance.

It is understood that niobium is widely used in the steel industry, aerospace industry, superconducting materials and other fields. About 85% to 90% of the world’s niobium is used in steel production in the form of ferroniobium. Just adding 0.03% to 0.05% niobium to steel can increase the yield strength of the steel by more than 30% and adjust the toughness level of the steel. Niobium-containing steel is widely used in automobiles, bridges, oil pipelines, natural gas pipelines, oil drilling, offshore oil drilling platforms, railway tracks, civil construction steel bars, etc.

High-purity niobium is widely used in the aerospace field. It is mainly used in the production of engines and heat-resistant parts of rockets and spacecrafts. Almost all hot parts of jet fighter engines use niobium alloys.

Certain compounds and alloys of niobium have high superconducting transition temperatures and are therefore widely used in the manufacture of various industrial superconductors. Currently, almost all industrial superconducting devices use NbTi and Nb3Sn as superconductors, such as superconducting generators and accelerators. High-power magnets, superconducting magnetic energy storage devices, magnetic resonance imaging equipment, etc.

At present, the main types of niobium deposits utilized in my country are pegmatite-type and granite-type tantalum-niobium deposits. These deposits have low niobium grade and small scale, and are associated resources of tantalum.