Brazil’s CBMM – the world’s largest producer of Niobium oxides claims that demand for its products have increased 500% since 2019 as the battery industry looks for new cathode materials to replace cobalt in high-nickel ternary batteries. Niobium has been found to offer the same stability in cathode materials as cobalt while allowing manufacturers to increase the proportion of nickel further, allowing for higher energy density materials. The necessary weighting of 0.5%-1% niobium allows for more nickel to be added and for energy density to be improved. Niobium production is similarly concentrated to cobalt’s production in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), with roughly 80% of it being produced by CBMM, but it will likely at least partially alleviate…