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| TABLE 1 | |||||||||||||
| SALIENT NIOBIUM STATISTICS1 | |||||||||||||
| 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | |||||||||
| United States: | |||||||||||||
| Government stockpile releases, Nb content2 | metric tons | 9 | 223 | 90 | r | 152 | r | 156 | p | ||||
| P | do. | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | |||||||
| Exports, Nb content3, 4 | do. | 130 | 170 | 276 | 337 | 561 | |||||||
| I | |||||||||||||
| Mineral concentrates, Nb content4 | do. | 273 | r | 181 | r | 167 | r | 142 | r | 120 | |||
| Niobium metal, gross weight5 | do. | 673 | 743 | 940 | 1,380 | 1,450 | |||||||
| Niobium oxide, Nb contente | do. | 654 | r | 585 | r | 633 | r | 661 | 760 | ||||
| Ferroniobium, Nb contente | do. | 4,030 | 4,080 | r | 5,170 | 5,430 | 8,150 | ||||||
| Tin slag, Nb content | do. | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | |||||||
| C | |||||||||||||
| R | do. | W | W | W | W | W | |||||||
| Ferroniobium and nickel niobiume | do. | 2,740 | 3,240 | r | 3,760 | 4,170 | 4,670 | ||||||
| Apparent | do. | 5,510 | r | 5,640 | r | 6,730 | r | 7,430 | r | 10,100 | |||
| P | dollars per kilogram | 14.6 | 14.5 | 14.5 | 14.5 | -- | |||||||
| Value:8 | |||||||||||||
| Niobium ore and concentrate (gross weight) | dollars per metric ton | 8.79 | 9.75 | 6.96 | r | 9.70 | r | 13.71 | |||||
| Niobium oxide (gross weight) | do. | 15.65 | 14.55 | 15.30 | 14.12 | r | 14.07 | ||||||
| Ferroniobium (gross weight) | do. | 8.52 | 8.74 | 8.72 | 8.66 | 9.13 | |||||||
| World, production of niobium-tantalum concentrates, Nb content | metric tons | 33,300 | r | 30,000 | r | 27,800 | r | 43,300 | r | 44,500 | |||
| �eEstimated. pPreliminary. rRevised. NA Not available. W Withheld to avoid disclosing company proprietary data. -- Zero. | |||||||||||||
| 1Data are rounded to no more than three significant digits, except prices. | |||||||||||||
| 2Negative numbers indicate an increase in inventory. Release is the decrease of uncommitted inventory relative to the previous calendar year. | |||||||||||||
| 3Includeds natural and synthetic niobium ore and concentrates; niobium oxide, niobium ferroalloy; and unwrought niobium metal and alloys. | |||||||||||||
| 4To estimate Nb content of mineral exports or imports, it was assumed that natural and synthetic tantalum ore and concentrates are 16% Nb2O5; niobium ore� | |||||||||||||
| concentrates is 30% Nb2O5; and Nb2O5 is 69.9% Nb. | |||||||||||||
| 5Includes niobium and articles made of niobium. | |||||||||||||
| 6The published price for columbite ore was discontinued in 2001 at a range of $5.50 to $7.00 per pound of Nb2O5 content. The published price of Brazilian� | |||||||||||||
| pyrocholore was discontinued in 1981; Canadian, 1989.� Price is time-weighted average as reported in trade journals. | |||||||||||||
| 7Standard (steelmaking) grade. American Metal Market discontinued reporting the price of vacuum grade ferroniobium in 2002 and standard grade in 2005. | |||||||||||||
| 8Value is mass-weighted average value of trade (i.e., imported plus exported material). | |||||||||||||
Source: United States Geological Survey Mineral Resources Program