Niocorp Developments Ltd (NB)

[inversor86]

Interesting use for Niobium.

My girlfriend does social media and PR for a pretty successful jewelry designer that has been in business for decades. I had a conversation with the owner about jewelry made out of niobium. I was not aware niobium was commonly used for certain jewelry until I came across all the #niobium tags on Instagram recently. http://statigr.am/tag/niobium

Anyway, the owner was telling me how Niobium use in her field is getting really popular. The reason being Niobium is one of very few completely hypoallergenic materials. And we all know it's very strong, another plus for that industry. It first caught on for use where piercings are constantly filled. While everyone knows that cheap jewelry is never hypoallergenic most don't know that platinum, gold and sterling silver are not. Gold is alloyed with a metal for strength and tarnish reduction making it non-hypo. Sterling silver is blended with copper, also non-hypo. Platinum has iridium in it making it again non-hypo. Nickel is also used but causes problems for people.

She said it's filtering into use for more standard pieces like rings and bracelets and is expected to get more and more common.

I doubt we'll see Quantum partnering up with a jewelry company anytime soon but it's good to see that the large jewelry market will be adding to the world wide demand of Niobium.