NioCorp Hopes to Add Rare Earth Data to Elk Creek Project

NioCorp Hopes to Add Rare Earth Data to Elk Creek Project

NioCorp Developments Ltd. announced that it will analyze historical drilling core samples from the Elk Creek project in southeastern Nebraska to compile sufficient data to release updated minerals for the Elk Creek Critical Minerals Project, including the grade and tonnage of rare earth elements (REEs) that may be present in individual deposits.

The Department of Conservation and Survey of the School of Natural Resources at the College of the University of Nebraska Lincoln is providing NioCorp with access to historical cores from the site to facilitate core analysis testing in September and October 2021.

NioCorp is currently conducting extensive metallurgical testing to demonstrate the potential of extracting and recovering REEs from the project site with the necessary project funding.

The renewal of the project’s mineral resources is an important step in the company’s review of the technical and economic feasibility of adding several REEs as by-products to its planned products, including the key minerals niobium, scandium, and titanium. The REEs program was launched in response to the strong interest of governments and industrial consumers around the world in sources of REEs other than existing suppliers.

The public release of updated mineral resources containing individual REE grade and tonnage data contained in the Elk Creek project is not expected to require updates to other major elements of the project’s current feasibility study.

The company is currently examining possible commercial rare earth products including praseodymium oxide (NdPr), dysprosium oxide (Dy₂O₃) and terbium oxide (Tb₄O₇). These are the main REEs used to make the world's most powerful permanent magnets (called neodymium iron boron magnets).

Scott Honan, Chief Operating Officer of NioCorp, said: "So far, metallurgical tests have shown excellent preliminary results, and we believe that we can extract REEs as a by-product of the current production plan."

"Take the next step to update our mineral resources and include the rare-earth grades and tonnages in the resources. To the extent that REEs are eligible as mineral resource reports, it will help us advance this process and should provide the public with more information about Elk Creek Carbonic Acid. The rare earth potential of rock. I look forward to seeing the results of additional core sampling."

"I would also like to thank the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for supporting this work, and the UNL Conservation and Investigation Department for participating in the evaluation of world-class carbonate rocks near Elk Creek over the years," he added.

In the past few decades, NioCorp and other companies have conducted extensive drilling of the Elk Creek project. Some cores from exploration drilling are stored in a repository at the University of Nebraska. UNL’s Conservation and Investigation Department (CSD) is a unique, multidisciplinary organization of research, services, and data resources that originated in 1893.

As the Geological Survey of Nebraska, its mission is to investigate and record information about the state’s geological history, rock and mineral resources, the quantity and quality of water resources, land cover and other geographical aspects, as well as the distribution and use of nature and its soil.

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