At a Glance: Niobium powerhouse CBMM
- 2019-08-30
Brazilian company CBMM, controlled by the Moreira Salles family, which also holds a 33.5% stake in local bank Itaú Unibanco, is a pioneer in niobium exploration and currently controls 80% of the global market for the metal, which is used in steelmaking and for various superconductor materials.
CBMM extracts niobium from an open-pit mine in Araxá, in Brazil’s Minas Gerais state, which is the world’s largest deposit of pyrochlore.
It also owns a refining plant and metallurgical production facilities in the Araxá area. The company supplies 82% of world demand for niobium products.
The company was created when local banker and ambassador Walter Moreira Salles forged a partnership with mining company Molycorp to produce niobium in Araxá in the early 1960s.
Moreira Salles soon became a majority shareholder with a 55% stake and later acquired the remaining 45% in CBMM.
The company has a current market capitalization of US$13bn based on the sale of 30% of CBMM in 2011 to two consortia for a total price of US$3.9bn.
