Electric vehicle advances highlight niobium's value

Significance

Having fallen since 2019, the price of benchmark ferroniobium has rebounded by more than 20% since the first quarter of 2021. Investors’ excitement is tempered by the fact that the mineral is relatively scarce. There are currently only three primary niobium mines in the world.

Impacts

• Tanzania, home to rich niobium resources, has seen a return of investor interest since the inauguration of President Samia Hassan.
• Echion Technologies, a Cambridge University spin-off creating niobium oxide-based materials for anodes, has closed its first funding round.
• Malawi has granted a mining license to the Kanyika project and could become the world’s fourth largest niobium producer.