Niocorp Developments Ltd (NB)

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From what I've read here and there, tantalum is close to being the ideal metal. Very inert chemically, also very strong. If you made a car out of tantalum it would be practically indestructible and last pretty much forever. The thing is, there is only enough tantalum to make about 100 cars. Production is measured in tons ( not megatons) since it is only available as a small byproduct of refining other metals. It is more much more rare than platinum (or REE's for that matter). The reason tantalum is not over $10k an ounce is that, as it turns out, niobium is an excellent substitute for tantalum in most applications. This frees up available tantalum for valuable niche applications like human joint replacement and a tiny bit more for use as a high dielectric thin film oxide to make compact electronic capacitors.

So, niobium is already the best substitute of choice for the major area of application which is structural steel. I would say that to try to substitute for the substitute isn't really practical, desirable, or considered necessary by steel producers. I would expect them to continue to use more over time once they realize that the increased demand won't spike the price up into a level of unavailability.