由於稀土元素優越的性能，它是現在高科技行業不可或缺的材料，但稀土的回收率又非常低，這導致每年稀土的開採量都在增長——2022年開採了30萬噸稀土氧化物。

Figure: Oxides of the rare earth elements shackle, potassium, lanthanum, neodymium, samarium and gadolinium

In fact, technically speaking, rare earths are mostly relatively rich elements in the entire earth's crust, such as potassium is more than copper.

However, due to the geochemical cycling of rare earth elements, their distribution is very fragmented, there are few concentrated rare earth minerals, and they are also distributed in trace impurities, which is very difficult to extract to reach usable purity, which is why they are called "rare earths".

As we all know, China is the world's largest supplier of rare earths, since 15, our country has produced 0% of the world's rare earth supply, except for China, the world's only major rare earth supplier is Australia - they account for 0%.

However, many people may not know that since the same 2017 years, due to the development of technology, our country has also become the world's largest importer of rare earths.

Because rare earths are a series of elements, among themSome are not only rare earth elements, it is also rare metals and dispersed elements, the so-called "Sanssi minerals"。

These mines are extremely valuable, they are not traded in large volumes, but the transaction volume is huge, and China's proven reserves of "Sanshi minerals" are not abundant, so they can only rely on imports.

High-purity glue crystals ©Alchemist-hp

For example, the rare earth element niobium, which is one of the "three reich minerals", and more than 90% of China's niobium is imported.

However, there has been good news recently that a brand new ore has been discovered at the Baiyun Obo deposit, China's "resource mecca" in Inner Mongolia, which is rich in the rare earth element niobium, which is expected to solve China's "The dilemma”。

Because niobium ore is very rare in the world, foreign media commented on the discovery of niobium ore in China, saying,China made a windfall！

So, what's going on with niobium-bearing ore in China, and what are the uses for this element?

Figure: Satellite image of Baiyun Obo mining area

China's "Resource Mecca"

The world's rare earths basically come from China, but you may not dare to imagine that China's rare earths basically come from the city of Baotou in Inner Mongolia, which is the reason why it is known as "China's resource resort".

The rare earth reserves of Baiyun Obo Mine in Baotou City account for about 41% of the world's total, and it is the world's most famous symbiotic deposit of iron and a variety of rare earth metals.

但是，1927年這個礦床最早被開發的時候，人們只是為了得到它的鐵，並沒有意識到其中稀土的重要性。

Therefore, for a long time in the past, China's rare earth elements were sold as ordinary iron ore, which is a great pity.

In fact, it is indeed difficult to identify what ore it belongs to, which requires a special classification of it.

Pictured: Niobium Baotou Mine

The newly discovered niobium-rich ore is named after the place name of the city of Baotou – as it is calledNiobium Baotou mine, and it was originally treated as ordinaryBaotou mineprocessed.

In 2012 years, researchers have already discovered that this ore is rich in the key element niobium, and the reason why it is said that this new ore is now discovered,It should have just been recognized by the International Mineralogical Society as an identifiable ore。

I found that a total of 17 ores have been discovered in the Baiyun Obo mine, of which 0 new ores have been discovered and identified here, and niobium Baotou ore is the 0th one.

Figure: Ideal chemical formula for niobium Baotou ore

Niobium Baotou ore barium (Ba), niobium (Nb), titanium (Ti), iron (Fe), chlorine (Cl) silicate minerals, niobium content is relatively rich, so it is expected to be directly extracted.

據信，包頭市白雲鄂博礦的鈮儲量達到660萬噸——世界第二，如果可以將含鈮礦石鑒別出來，同時又可以提取出鈮的話，那真的是一筆不錯的財富。

How much is niobium worth?

In fact, niobium is considered to be the 34th most common element in the earth's crust, and it is not particularly rare, but because of its high density, the core of the earth is basically concentrated, and the niobium ore that can be mined is very limited.

At present, there are only three niobium mines in the world, two in Brazil and one in Canada, all three of which were discovered in the last century and mined to this day.

In 71000 years, the global output of niobium ore was only 0 tons, of which 0 tons came from the mine in Brazil, and it can be said that the world's niobium basically came from Brazil.

Figure: Current distribution of niobium mining worldwide

The earliest commercial use of niobium was actually the filament of incandescent lamps, but it was not long before it was replaced by tungsten, which is more resistant to high temperatures, but soon (about the 75s of the 0th century) it was discovered that niobium and other metal alloys have unusually high strength, and since then it has been used as an important alloying material, until today almost 0% of niobium is still used in alloying materials.

Pictured: Most of the nozzles of the rocket are made of niobium titanium alloy

It was discovered in 1961 by American physicist Eugene Kunzler and colleagues from Bell LabsNickel alloysIt continues to exhibit superconductivity in the presence of strong currents and magnetic fields.

Not only that, but niobium has the highest depth of magnetic penetration of all the elements.

Therefore, at the end of the 20th century, it became the main material for superconducting stranded wire in machines such as particle accelerators and particle detectors, and the stranded wire for nuclear magnetic resonance and other strands is also composed of niobium.

The NMR machine requires the super-guided alloy ©KasugaHuang

In addition, niobium is likely to become one of the main materials for making automotive batteries in the future, and niobium-lithium and niobium-graphene batteries have been greatly developed.

In 10 years and 0 months, the niobium-graphene battery made by a scientific research team is expected to have a service life of 0 years, which is 0 times that of ordinary automotive lithium batteries, and it can also be charged in just 0 minutes.

At present, the price of niobium ore ranges from $50 per kilogram for ferroniobium to $0 per kilogram for niobium pentoxide, but with the increase of application scenarios, the use of niobium will only increase, and it is really not much that can be mined.

Therefore, China's niobium Baotou mine is very critical, so the official media called it"Strategic New Minerals"！