RE:RE:RE:vanadium vs niobiumIn an attempt to answer my own question I found this: Vanadium producers cant meet growing demand China has dominated the vanadium market, producing 55% of global supply, extracted mostly from titano-magnetite blast-furnace slags from steel production, but also from stone coal (anthracite). However, the Chinese governments new, tougher limits on waste streams and environmental pollution are reducing vanadium production from these sources. Vanitec estimates that last year, global vanadium demand (88,600 tonnes) exceeded production by 10%. Vanadium demand is forecast to increase by 50% to 130,000 tpa by 2025. One driver for increasing demand is Chinas introduction of higher strength standards for rebar (steel bars or mesh used to reinforce concrete) to enhance resistance to earthquakes. If all Chinese rebar production moves to the new standards, vanadium demand for this purpose will increase to 42,000t. Other applications for vanadium promise to stimulate further demand, including redox flow batteries that use vanadium electrolytes and enable wider use of renewable power generation from wind and solar energy. Clearly, new vanadium sources and/or an alternative are urgently needed. Niobium to the rescue Niobium vanadiums downstairs-neighbour on the periodic table has similar valuable properties. Niobium cant completely replace vanadium but is an important alternative. Historically, vanadium prices have lagged niobium prices, but are now 300% higher a strong economic incentive for substitution. Spot ferroniobium (FeNb) prices have increased by almost 50% since early 2017 and could increase further as steel companies substitute it for FeV. Specific consumption of niobium in China is low, so prospects for greater demand and further price gains are good. In addition, niobium is critical for advanced alloys used in aerospace. For example, it is the main (89%) constituent in the C-103 alloy employed in re-usable rocket nozzles by Space X and NASA. But niobium suppliers are few and far between: world-leader CBMM in Brazil produces 85% of global supply and IAMGOLD in Canada follows, producing around 9%. No new mines have been developed for over 40 years. To fill the vanadium supply gap, this situation needs to change, fast. In 2010, WikiLeaks released a US government list of key foreign resources vital to US interests, on which niobium appeared multiple times. The strategic importance of niobium is witnessed by the following investments by countries and companies in recent years: