• no forecastNiobium: no free authoritative demand forecast - No free numeric forecast of total niobium demand exists: TIC statistics are historical shipments and member-exclusive for the first 12 months; USGS MCS 2026 has no forward numeric line; the EC JRC 2023 foresight covers only an ICT-technology slice (~0.01% of the ~112 kt/yr steel-dominated market).
• no dataNo commodity-decomposed recycling data - No USGS MCS Fig13 scrap rows. EU WEEE / battery EOL flows (Phase 6.1.1) are country-keyed only - see country profiles.
• datedMaterial-flow analysis is historical - All 3 material-flow records date to 2000 or earlier (Yale STAF era). They describe the anthropogenic cycle of that period, not today's system.
• datedEnvironmental footprint is dated - Cradle-to-gate intensity rows carry a 2008 inventory vintage (Nuss & Eckelman-era LCA). Current-process footprints are not yet in scope.
• datedExport-restriction inventory ends 2020 - The OECD industrial-raw-materials inventory (vendored snapshot) reports HS-line measures only through 2020; restrictions enacted since are not reflected in the measure table.
• narrowConsumption geography is single-economy (United States) - Reported consumption covers one economy only - the world usage split must be read from trade flows, not from a consumption table.

The eight-stage lens, the observed-vs-estimated membrane, stage-honest supply, per-stage concentration, ownership resolution and the demand lens - the full method is illustrated live on copper, nickel and lithium.

Read the methodology, illustrated live →