Mining, Ore Preparation and Niobium-based Materials Production at Araxá, Brazil

Abstract

The pyrochlore deposit of Araxá, Brazil, is widely recognized today as the world's largest know niobium reserve. This mineral deposit, which represents more than 70 percent of the world's economically extractable known reserves, has been mined by CBMM (Companhia Brasileira de Metalurgia e Mineracça) since the beginning of the 1960's and, for those thirty years has supplied more than 60 percent of the world niobium consumption. The purpose of this paper is to describe CBMM's present exploration of the Araxá deposit, its ore preparation and production of ferroniobium. Besides standard ferroniobium, CBMM has recently commenced production at Araxá of vacuum-grade ferroniobium, vacuum grade nickel niobium, and pure metal, as well as niobium oxide in different grades of purity, ranging from the high purity grade for metallurgical applications to especially pure oxides for optical chemical and electronic applications. © 1993, Walter de Gruyter. All rights reserved.