Niobium - a critical and conflict raw material of great economic significance - the state of the art.

The economic importance, global market, primary resources and secondary sources of niobium are discussed in this paper. Niobium concentrate is the first commercial product of the enrichment process; however, the overwhelming majority of the niobium concentrate supply is processed into ferroniobium, which dominates international trade. In this form, niobium raw materials are used in the steel industry as an alloying agent (alloy additive). The production of\oxides and other compounds of niobium, such as carbides, alloys and metallic niobium are currently of much less commercial significance. The addition of a very small amount of niobium, of the order of 0.01%, changes the properties of steel fundamentally, increasing its strength, resistance to atmospheric factors or high temperatures, etc. The addition of niobium in other products also changes their properties, e.g. permanent magnets become superconductors. As a result, niobium is currently widely used around the world as a compo nent of sustainable technologies, which has a large positive impact on the environment by reducing the energy and material consumption of the manufacturing processes. The increase in the spectrum of niobium applications in advanced technologies, considered to be the technologies of the future, means that the widely recognized critical importance of niobium continues to grow. It can be assumed that the war between Ukraine and Russia will cause significant disturbances in the global metals market, including that for niobium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]