Just like Moojer you assume every company already has a supplier for Niobium. Use in China is low but folks are realizing (read DSU's DD on the subject) to compete you need to be using Niobium.
Yes I assume anyone who needs niobium has a supplier. That doesnt mean they cant buy from a competitor. And there will always be new customers. However the production of NB has leveled off.
So the situation may be the SOE needs Niobium a few years down the road and there isn't excess capacity available to them from CBMM or others
The demand is fairly stable. That tells me that if the demand does pick up so will CBMMs production. If SOE needs Niobium in a few years CBMM and the others will be able to supply everything they need for at least the next 100 years. SOE may not want to rely on a foreign country allowing them to access the mineral and are looking for their own supply etc etc etc.. There are a ton of "maybes". The fact is if they want it they can find it easily. The world has all the niobium it needs for the future. (when I say future I mean in the lifetime of any "long" here.) So yeah this is a great investment for our great grandchildren. Some time in the next couple hundred years someone might need SRSRs niobium but I would rather have my money and let my great grand children make their own way
The thing is if you do the DD you already know Gulf Mineral and Colorado School of Mines already developed processing technology that makes this project feasible. The problem with that technology from the 50's is that is not environmentally friendly but technology already exists that is but its isn't going to provide higher yields just potential cost saving and more environmentally friendly. Don't forget their are 3 other mines producing and selling Niobium today its not like CBMM is the only one and holds all the secrets?
I would assume that the 3 companies all have their own way of doing things. I would also assume that none of them will be willing to give Scott a walk through.
I am also aware of the wikipedia "DD" done here and that almost all metals can be acid leeched from ore and processed but most countries frown on dumping chemicals in rivers. That is why they developed other methods. So the "feasibility" from 60 years ago was in a world without an environmental protection agency in almost every country. I personally dont consider any posters description of the process to be fact no matter how many big words they use to describe what they think sound good. Here is part of my DD. I recommend reading all of it(I have) but about page 230 gets into all the problems with getting it pure enough for commercial production. After reading a few pages you might actually wonder if Scott is even close to figuring out what it takes. I was glad to find this online. It took awhile to find it in a library. http://books.google.com/books?id=3dd2Q7YT5nUC&pg=PA234&lpg=PA234&dq=niobium+electrode+melting&source=bl&ots=sV6IRrtCix&sig=LJjv5jdLrqCmQg8ohmecRmtHlBw&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Hb1AUfOLIeSvyQHws4HQDQ&sqi=2&ved=0CEEQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=niobium%20electrode%20melting&f=false
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