Stipulation award to aid alloy development, project advancement.

To support development of a domestic scandium supply chain for U.S. defense applications, the Department of Defense has committed up to $10 million in milestone-based funding to advance engineering, drilling, and alloy qualification work at NioCorp Developments Ltd.'s Elk Creek critical minerals project in southeastern Nebraska.

Following a spring drilling campaign to upgrade portions of its scandium and niobium resource, early-stage activity at Elk Creek accelerated ahead of a $60.7 million equity financing in July, which aimed to support expanded engineering, regulatory, and land acquisition efforts.

Shortly afterward, the company finalized the purchase of three additional land parcels required for mine infrastructure, processing operations, and road improvements.

Totaling 1.66 acres and acquired for approximately $2.7 million, two of the three parcels include both surface and mineral rights, and all are located within the core development footprint – reducing reliance on leased ground and moving the site another step closer to construction.

According to the 2022 resource estimate, Elk Creek hosts 970,300 metric tons of niobium oxide, 11,337 metric tons of scandium oxide, 4.2 million metric tons of titanium oxides, and 632,900 metric tons of total rare earth oxides, all in the higher confidence indicated resource category.

If advanced to shovel-ready status, a mine developed here would produce 7,450 metric tons of ferroniobium, 12,063 metric tons of titanium dioxide, and 104 metric tons of scandium trioxide annually over a 38-year operating life.

With site work underway, NioCorp announced Aug. 5 that DOD intends to provide up to $10 million in funding to its subsidiary, Elk Creek Resources Corp., through a Defense Production Act (DPA) Title III award designed to support the development and deployment of aluminum-scandium alloy components for defense aerospace systems.

"We believe this award and the development of the Elk Creek Project will position the U.S. as a global leader in the mining, processing, and manufacturing of scandium and scandium alloy components for defense and essential civilian technologies," said NioCorp CEO Mark Smith. "In doing so, we will greatly reduce our dangerous dependence on China and other adversarial nations for scandium and other defense-critical minerals."

Structured under milestone-based funding, the DPA award will involve collaboration with an unnamed U.S. prime contractor to qualify aluminum-scandium alloys for use in aircraft programs of record, hypersonic weapons systems, and other advanced platforms – targeting direct integration into propulsion systems and structural assemblies across multiple defense applications.

"By facilitating the Elk Creek Project's advancement to construction and eventual commercial operation, this DoD award will also help America ramp up domestic production of scandium, niobium, titanium, and other critical minerals that are vital to many defense and commercial technologies and which today are almost entirely produced in China," added Smith.

In addition to supporting alloy qualification and deployment, the funding is expected to enable the completion of feasibility study-level engineering, additional reserve drilling, and updated cost estimates regarding Elk Creek's development and production potential.

This, in turn, is expected to facilitate NioCorp's pursuit of project finance, including up to $800 million in debt financing from the U.S. Export-Import Bank (EXIM).

Together, the award and EXIM's potential financing demonstrate an integrated whole-of-government approach to promoting domestic critical mineral production for defense and essential civilian technologies.