NioCorp Developments (NB.TO) is developing the Elk Creek Critical Minerals Project in Southeast Nebraska. This mine will produce strategic/critical minerals such as niobium, scandium and titanium. Several rare earths will also be produced from this mine. In fact, Elk Creek is the second largest indicated-or-better rare earth resource in the US.
Today, NioCorp announced a process breakthrough in niobium and titanium recovery achieved at L3 Process Developments (L3) demonstration-scale processing plant in Trois-Rivieres, Quebec. This points to a potentially more efficient way to process niobium and titanium into higher-purity products, which may in turn open up new markets for NioCorp’s proposed Elk Creek Critical Minerals Project planned products, once sufficient financing is obtained to allow the Project to proceed to commercial operation.
The breakthrough occurred as part of the Company’s final stages of work at L3’s plant, which has been testing NioCorp’s new and improved processing flow sheet for the Project. The new flowsheet targets more efficient processing of niobium, titanium, and scandium, which could improve rates of recovery and potentially reduce operating costs (“OPEX”) and/or capital costs (“CAPEX”) associated with these operations.
The demonstration-scale plant also has been testing the technical feasibility of recovering several magnetic rare-earth elements from the Project’s Nebraska ore and separating and purifying those elements, which include neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium, and terbium.
NioCorp has already determined that overall recoveries for these four magnetic rare earths are likely to be greater than 92% and would meet commercial purity specifications for magnetic rare earth oxides. They are in line with the Company’s previous published success at demonstration scale in producing high-purity Scandium oxide at an overall recovery rate of approximately 92%.
“By improving both recoveries and purities of our planned niobium and titanium products, we hope to be able to address new markets and help the U.S. establish more secure domestic supply lines for these critical minerals,” said Mark A. Smith, CEO and Executive Chairman of NioCorp. “For example, higher-purity niobium may allow us to more directly serve markets associated with rapid-charging niobium-lithium-ion batteries for battery electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. That, in turn, could increase the domestic content of critical minerals in batteries, which would help U.S. automakers meet increasingly stringent domestic content requirements as well as help consumers of these vehicles potentially benefit from federal tax breaks associated with the purchase of electric vehicles.”
“Higher-purity titanium also presents us with new potential market opportunities and improve U.S. security with regard to titanium supply. Titanium supply chains are under increasing stress today as a result of the war in Ukraine. That is because many primary titanium units used in both commercial and defense technologies in the U.S. have in recent years been sourced from Ukraine, and a substantial amount of titanium metal was coming from Russia. Prices for titanium concentrates and feedstocks have increased on the order of 250% as a result. More titanium produced in Nebraska can help mitigate these supply chain pressures.”
According to the Company’s current Project Feasibility Study, the existing flowsheet projects overall recoveries to final product of 82.4% for niobium and 40.3% for titanium. The demonstration plant expects its final testing operations to be completed in April or May.
The stock is up over 3.5% on today’s news at time of writing, and sits at a market cap of over $280 million.
The stock bounced at a major support zone around $8.00. You can clearly see the major range NioCorp has been in and we are at the bottom portion of it. Buyers are here as can be seen with the large wick. Support zones tend to be an area where a major move and reversal begins. $10 is some interim resistance I would watch as it is a psychological number.
