A critical component for steel manufacturers to produce high strength, low alloy steels, niobium is making an entrance in the United States, as Canada-based Quantum Rare Earths is looking to develop the resource at its Elk Creek Carbonatite Project in Nebraska, which is also rich in rare earths.

With niobium not having been commercially mined in the U.S. since 1959, Quantum’s Nebraska project would not only make the company the only niobium miner in the U.S., it also constitutes an important step in the direction of reducing U.S. dependency on foreign imports of critical non-fuel mineral resources.

Current legislative efforts to remove barriers to domestic resource development in Congress, one of which has just cleared the House Committee on Natural Resources, would do their part to improve the U.S. strategic and economic outlook as the global race for resources heats up.