The development of niobium industry in China

China's niobium industry began to develop in 1956, from the 1960s gradually formed a mining, smelting, processing and production industry chain. Initially, there was a big gap between the smelting and processing scale, technical level and product quality with developed countries. By the mid-1970s, China has 5 tantalum and niobium smelters. 1980s, China has 10 tantalum and niobium mines, Xinjiang Aler mine, Guangxi Li Mu tiger head mine is due to resource depletion and closure of the Guangdong Taimei mine, Guangdong Yonghan mine, Guangdong Boro mine, Jiangxi Hengfeng mine belongs to the columbium-tantalum mines, due to the low niobium and tantalum grades, mines have been closed because of losses. By the end of the 80s, China's tantalum and niobium metal production capacity of 100t. 90s, especially since 1995, China's niobium industry has developed rapidly, more enterprises, increased production capacity, production technology has been upgraded, the variety of products has increased, product quality has been improved, the field of application is expanding, and the production environment has been improved. China's niobium consumption has also been increasing, especially after 2000, China quickly became a large niobium consuming country. 2005, China's niobium consumption was about 6,500 tons, but it mainly relied on imports to meet domestic demand. 2010, China's niobium consumption accounted for about a quarter of the global total consumption. As of 2014, China's niobium industry has experienced nearly 60 years of development, and has realized the transformation of "from small to large, from military to civilian, from internal to external".
Although China's niobium industry has a greater development, but still face many problems. First of all, the shortage of resources, China is a large consumer of niobium, but the domestic niobium mine taste is low, the output is far from meeting the domestic demand, and thus the need for a large number of imports. In addition, China's niobium high-tech product development capacity is insufficient, industrial development is also a lack of guidance and regulation. In order to solve the above problems, China's government and relevant departments should strengthen the resource exploration, enterprises should also implement the "going out" strategy, make full use of foreign resources and technology. At the same time, enterprises should also increase investment in scientific research and accelerate the development and application of new products. The state should also guide niobium enterprises to carry out structural adjustment and reorganization, thereby improving the economic efficiency of enterprises and promoting the healthy and rapid development of the niobium industry.