A niobium or niobium alloy which contains pure or substantially pure niobium and at least one metal element selected from the group consisting of Ru, Rh, Pd, Os, Ir, Pt, Mo, W and Re to form a niobium alloy that is resistant to aqueous corrosion. The invention also relates to the process of preparing the niobium alloy.

This invention relates to a method for the production of reducible metal oxides (e.g. V.sub.2O.sub.3). The invention also relates to a method for the production of metals (e.g. vanadium) from said oxides. More specifically, the method facilitates the preparation of metal oxides that are capable of being further reduced to their respective metals with high purity.