on the hunt, page-54

Apologies for my thread last night (28 07 08 20:04) but i was being picked up and had to run...so i didn't read myself again but generally the idea is there ; )

ie Niobium and Zirconium are in high grades! i said there were not (wrong!). The real issue is: What Industry would use/buy those elements ????

Anyone knows????

Prices for Zirconium 4-7/Kg used for Jewlery....
what about Niobium? anyone knows?

Niobium
Niobium metal is mainly used in the form of
ferro-niobium in the production of High Strength Low
Alloy (“HSLA”) steels where it imparts strength and
durability, substituting in part for vanadium.
Niobium metal is also used in the manufacture
of special alloys and as an oxide in optics. A
small but growing use is in the manufacture of
niobium capacitors.
Annual niobium production for use in steels is
currently over 150,000,000 lbs per annum of niobium
pentoxide (Nb2O5). Approximately 75% of supply is
currently from CBMM in Brazil with the balance of
raw material supplies coming from elsewhere in
Brazil and from Canada. The dominant supplier has
historically maintained a steady market and steady
prices although prices have been increased recently
in line with higher demand from China.
Tertiary plans to produce approximately 6,000,000 lbs
of niobium pentoxide in ferro-niobium, an amount
which should be absorbed by the growing market.
Zirconium
Zirconium is used in two industrial forms. It is used
as a mineral concentrate of the ore mineral, zircon
(zirconium silicate) in foundry and ceramic applications,
where the market world-wide is very large compared
to potential output from Ghurayyah. It is also used
in lower volume in value-added materials, such as
higher purity oxides and chemicals (for example,
cerium/zirconium and yttrium/zirconium oxides).
It should be possible to produce zirconium from
Ghurayyah in either form. There is a large market for
zircon in the ceramics industries in Saudi Arabia and
the Middle East. It is projected that approximately
12,000 tonnes of zircon could be produced annually
from Ghurayyah.
Zirconium is used increasingly in conjunction with
yttrium, for example in the manufacture of solid
oxide fuel cells.