The history of niobium is closely linked to another metal — tantalum. Back in the first half of the 17th century, a previously unknown heavy mineral was found near the Columbia River in northwestern North America, whose black surface clearly showed golden veins. It was brought to England, and until the end of the 18th century it was kept in the main historical and archaeological museum of the British Empire under the name “iron ore”. It was only at the beginning of the 19th century that it fell into the hands of Charles Hatchet, a London chemist who, at the request of the British Museum, analyzed a sample found in America. The scientist named the new mineral “columbite” and the metal oxide obtained from it called “columbium”, after the region from which the sample was brought.
A year later (in 1802), mineralogist Anders Gustav Ekenberg from Sweden discovered another chemical element in the same ore found in North America and named it tantalum. Because tantalum and columbite were obtained from the same sample, scientists considered them to be the same metal for several decades. It was only in 1844 that the German chemist-analyst Heinrich Rose, during experiments, isolated two different types of metallic oxides from columbite with similar properties. One of them was the previously known tantalum, and the second was a new chemical element that the German mineralogist named niobium after Niobe, daughter of the ancient Greek king Tantalus.
The debate about the correct name of the chemical element has been going on for a long time. In the United States of America and Great Britain, Nb continued to be called columbium; in other countries, it began to be called niobium. Scientists from IUPAC (International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry), the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, resolved the chemists' disagreements in 1950. They gave the chemical element, like the metal itself, the official name Niobium (niobium), and assigned the mineral from which it was obtained to the mineral from which it was obtained, the already used one, columbite.
Niobium contains only 0.002% in the Earth's crust, but it does not occur in its free state. Pure metal can only be isolated from minerals, and from the same minerals that are extracted to produce tantalum. Participation in general geological processes and the similarity of physical and chemical properties have closely linked these two metals together.
According to geologists, there are only 16 million tons of ore containing niobium in the world. At the same time, almost 70% of ore deposits are located in Brazil: the local metallurgical and mining company CBMM (Companhia Brasileira de Metalurgia e Mineração) is now the largest supplier of niobium in the world. It provides almost 80% of all global consumption of this rare earth metal.
About 20-25% of the world's niobium reserves are located in Eastern Siberia and the Far East in Russia. The Lovozero GOK extracts and refines ore in these areas. Niobium oxide is also produced by SMZ (Solikamsk Magnesium Plant), processing loparite concentrate (obtained from ores mined by the Lovozero Mining and Processing Plant) to produce it.
Most of the niobium produced is used to produce a variety of steels, including precision. By adding Nb, the following are improved properties of alloys:
Niobium along with molybdenum (Mo), tungsten (W) and tantalum (Ta) is one of the so-called “Big Four” of the most promising metals used in the field of aircraft and rocket engineering. In addition, Nb has a low index of artificial radioactivity, which makes it suitable for the manufacture of tanks for transporting and storing radioactive waste.
Niobium is widely used in radio electronics and microprocessor technology. Capacitors are made from it, as well as from tantalum. In terms of their characteristics, they are slightly inferior to tantalum, but they are much cheaper, and also have greater reliability and resistance to fire.
Analysts estimate that the demand for niobium, as well as its cost, will continue to grow. This is due to the development of thermonuclear energy, in particular the construction of new nuclear reactors, for the production of which Nb is one of the mandatory components.
If you want to get a piece of niobium, you don't have to search for parts of nuclear reactors or spacecraft. The mints of some countries issue commemorative banknotes containing niobium. Such collectible coins are produced in Australia, Canada, Luxembourg, Liberia, Latvia and a number of other countries.