Niobium: Extraction
The rare carbonate rocks that hold niobium
What this tab covers How it is mined, drilled or grown, and processed into a tradeable form: the main methods compared, their unit economics, by-products, and the companies that do this work globally and in India.Most niobium occurs as pyrochlore in carbonatites, unusual igneous rocks made largely of carbonate minerals (USGS). Brazil's deposits in Minas Gerais and Goiás dominate, and Canada's Niobec mine in Quebec is a distant second. Ore is mined, concentrated and reduced to ferroniobium of about 65% niobium. Smaller amounts come from tantalum-niobium ores in Central Africa, much of it mined artisanally in DR Congo and Rwanda. A planned project in Nebraska would be the only US niobium mine and processing plant.
Niobium is mined mainly as pyrochlore from a few very large carbonatite deposits, above all at Araxa in Brazil. The ore is concentrated and smelted on site into ferroniobium, the form bought by steel mills, or refined into oxide and metal for aerospace and electronics. A small amount comes as a co-product of tantalum from columbite-tantalite (coltan) in Central Africa and Brazil, and of tin at Pitinga in Brazil. The market is one of the most concentrated in mining: one company, CBMM, sells most of the world's supply and prices are negotiated rather than set on an exchange.
Methods compared
| Method | Share of supply | Typical scale | Recovery / efficiency | By-products | Unit cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open-pit mining of weathered pyrochlore carbonatite + flotation + aluminothermic FeNb | Brazil 93% of 2025 mine output (USGS); CBMM about 80% of world supply in 2012 (Tilton and Guzman) | CBMM Araxa about 100,000 t in 2025 (CEO estimate) with 150,000 t a year of capacity; CMOC Niobras 10,348 t in 2025 (Critical Minerals News) | n/a | phosphate fertiliser at CMOC's Brazilian operations | Indicative price only: US ferroniobium unit value about $26/kg in 2025 (USGS). Costs not published. |
| Underground mining of hard-rock pyrochlore (Niobec, Quebec) | Canada 6,000 t in 2025, about 5% (USGS) | Magris Performance Materials claims about 10% of the world market (company estimate, via Critical Minerals News); volume not published | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Co-product of tantalum and tin (coltan, columbite) | DR Congo 970 t, Rwanda 200 t, others 120 t in 2025, about 1% (USGS) | n/a | n/a | tantalum (main value), tin | n/a |
How each method works
Open-pit mining of weathered pyrochlore carbonatite + flotation + aluminothermic FeNbSoft, weathered ore from the top of the carbonatite is mined with excavators, ground, deslimed and floated to a pyrochlore concentrate. Leaching removes phosphorus and other impurities, and the concentrate is reduced with aluminium powder in an exothermic batch process to ferroniobium, which is crushed and packed for export.
Huge, high-grade reserves (14 Mt Nb in Brazil) and low cost; supply depends on one country and essentially one firm.
USGS MCS 2026; Tilton and Guzman (2016); Critical Minerals News (2026) Underground mining of hard-rock pyrochlore (Niobec, Quebec)Unweathered carbonatite is mined underground, crushed, floated and converted to ferroniobium on site. Niobec is the main producer outside Brazil.
Non-Brazilian supply; higher-cost underground mining.
USGS MCS 2026; Critical Minerals News (2026) Co-product of tantalum and tin (coltan, columbite)Columbite-tantalite is dug by artisanal and small-scale miners in DR Congo, Rwanda and Nigeria, or recovered at tin mines such as Pitinga in Brazil. Concentrates go to processors who separate niobium and tantalum by solvent extraction.
Small and tied to tantalum demand; artisanal supply raises conflict-mineral due-diligence issues.
USGS MCS 2026 Unit economics are indicative ranges from the sources named; costs vary widely by deposit, region and year.Share produced as a by-product
About 5% of primary supply comes as a by-product (Nassar, Graedel & Harper 2015, approximate).Who does it: global
| Company | Country | Activity | Volume | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CBMM (Companhia Brasileira de Metalurgia e Mineracao) Company estimate; 95,000 t in 2024. Product basis not stated. | Brazil | mining (Araxa), ferroniobium, oxides and alloys | 100,000 t niobium products (estimate) | 2025 | CEO statement to Brazilian press (Oct 2025), reported by Critical Minerals News |
| CMOC Group (Niobras) 2026 guidance 10,000-11,000 t. | China / Brazil | mining and ferroniobium (Goias) | 10,348 t niobium | 2025 | CMOC 2025 annual results, via Critical Minerals News |
| Magris Performance Materials (Niobec) Volume not published; claims about 10% of world market. | Canada | underground mining and ferroniobium (Quebec) | not published | 2025 | Critical Minerals News (2026) |
| AMG (Mibra) Volume not published. | Brazil | tantalum-niobium co-product, master alloys | not published | 2025 | Critical Minerals News (2026) |
| Mineracao Taboca (Pitinga) Volume not published. | Brazil | tin mine with niobium-tantalum co-product | not published | 2025 | Critical Minerals News (2026) |
Who does it: India
India has no niobium production and imported 5.8% of world ferroniobium by value in 2024 for its steel industry (UN Comtrade); niobium is on India's 2023 critical minerals list.