RE:AS PRICE LINGERS STILL WAITING FOR 2 MAJOR CONFIRMATIONS-An interesting project now on-going. Niobium is not particularly rare but deposits rich enough to mine are very rare or have other problems. Plato's in near surface and initial pit results showed very high grade. Should a good measure of these return similar results Plato should have a tiger by the tail as the uses of niobium are expanding rapidly.
Niobium, when added to steel and aluminum, increases their strength by 30%. Important, but more important as fuel prices increase, that means lighter cars, trucks, trains, airplanes etc. become possible. As fuel savers this can only speed demand.
But niobium's future is even brighter as Toshiba has announced it is bringing a niobium based battery to market in 2019. This battery may revolutionize electric vehicles as Toshiba states 200 mile ranges are possible after a short 6 minute charge. The already large growth in EV's will surge even more and EV's, in particular, will require light weight aluminum and steel components.
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