Type Privately held company Area served Worldwide Headquarters Araxá Number of employees 1,800 | Industry Metals and Mining Website www.cbmm.com Founded 1955 Parent organization Grupo Moreira Salles | |
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Products Ferroniobium, niobium oxides, vacuum-grade niobium alloys, niobium metal Net income BRL 1.454 billion (2012) Subsidiaries CBMM Asia Co., Ltd., Cbmm North America, Inc, Reference Metals Company Inc. | ||
Companhia Brasileira de Metalurgia e Mineração (Portuguese for Brazilian Metallurgy and Mining Company), or CBMM for short, is a Brazilian company that specializes in the mining and processing of niobium, extracted from its pyrochlore mine near the city of Araxá, in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, where the company is also headquartered.
CBMM is by far the world's largest producer of niobium metal and its basic alloys, providing over 80% of the world's supply. Like the other producers of this metal, the company does not sell raw niobium ore, only ferroniobium, other niobium alloys and oxides, and the pure metal, all produced in its facilities next to the open-pit mine. As of 2016, CBMM produces 90,000 tonnes of ferroniobium equivalent per year, which is slated to be increased to 150,000 tonnes/year. The Araxá ore deposit is large enough to supply the market demand for at least 200 years at current consumption rates. CBMM was the world's first mining and metallurgy company to be ISO 14001-certified.
CBMM's niobium products are sold to over 50 countries. The company has a sales office in São Paulo, a corporate communications center in Belo Horizonte, sales subsidiaries in the Pittsburgh area, Amsterdam and Singapore, and distributing representatives in Moscow, Mumbai, Beijing and Tokyo. CBMM also has a technology subsidiary in Geneva, CBMM Technology Suisse.
The company was founded in 1955 and since 1965 has been controlled by the Moreira Salles family, one of Brazil's wealthiest, former owners of the Unibanco banking conglomerate. In 2011, a Chinese group acquired a 15% stake in CBMM, and a Japanese-South Korean consortium a further 15%.
The company also owns and operates an Embraer Legacy 600 aircraft (as of August 2016).