NIOBIUM and AVZ
Pulled this from appendix of a AVZ ann on 19 Feb 2018 : -
"...The licence area has been previously mined for tin and tantalum
including “coltan” through a series of open pits over a total length of approximately 10km excavated by Zairetain sprl. More than 60Mt of material was mined from three major pits and several subsidiary pits..."
Wiki definition of Coltan:-
Coltan (short for
columbite–tantalites and known industrially as tantalite) is a
dull black metallic ore from which the elements niobium and tantalum are extracted. The niobium-dominant mineral in coltan is
columbite (after niobium's original American name,
columbium), and the tantalum-dominant mineral is
tantalite.
[1] Tantalum from coltan is used to manufacture batteries for electric cars, and in
tantalum capacitors used in
electronic products.
So question is
are we also sitting on a Niobium as by product from Manono as well as Tin and Tantalum ?
Niobium 100kt per year market used in steel production it makes steel stronger and lighter... Almost all current cars have some niobium in their chassis. Niobium market is worth US$3 to US$4 billion a year market. 90% of Niobium comes from Brazil. There are only 3 producers of Niobium.
Toshiba claims its new electric car battery enables 200 miles of range with a 6-minute charge
" ...This week, Japanese electronics giant Toshiba unveiled a new battery that they developed using a new “titanium
niobium oxide” anode material. The company claims the new battery, which is aimed at the automotive market, can enable 200 miles (320 km) of range on an electric car with just 6 minutes of charging.
Its next-generation li-ion battery is the latest iteration of their ‘SCiB’ batteries launched back in 2008.
They claim that the new titanium niobium oxide anode material introduced in the new generation has “doubled” the lithium storage. ..."
