Rare earth: second largest resource identified in the United States

NioCorp Developments’ Elk Creek project in southeast Nebraska can be considered the second largest rare earth resource in the United States, second only to MP Materials’ Mountain Pass rare earth deposit.

The discovery follows an updated feasibility study in which rare earth elements were evaluated as a potential by-product of niobium, titanium and scandium mining; therefore, estimated REE values are reported using the previously determined diluted net smelter yield derived from the Nb2O5, TiO2 and scandium mineral resources.

According to the 2022 feasibility study, the Elk Creek project contains an estimated 632.9 kilotons of total rare earth oxides in the indicated mineral resource category. According to data from the U.S. Geological Survey, this figure places the Elk Creek mineral resource behind MP Materials’ Mountain Pass deposit in the United States, but ahead of all other current rare earth projects in terms of TREO contained in a NI 43-101 rare earth resource with indicated classification or higher.

The company pointed out that the 2022 feasibility study also showed that in addition to relatively high grades of niobium, scandium, and titanium, the Elk Creek mineral resource contains various amounts of all the REEs.

The possibility exists that NioCorp’s REEs will be mined, crushed, and put into solution as part of the process that NioCorp intends to use to produce its primary niobium, scandium, and titanium products, once project funding is secured. Depending on the outcome of metallurgical tests on the recovery rates of REEs from Elk Creek ore, currently underway at a demonstration plant in Quebec, and the securing of the necessary project financing, NioCorp could produce separated rare earths as a by-product, gaining a competitive advantage over other rare earth projects.

In light of these findings, the Colorado-based company intends to commission a new technical report on the Elk Creek project in accordance with NI 43-101.

The 2022 feasibility study showed that the indicated Elk Creek mineral resource comprises 632.9 kt of TREO, including individual rare earth oxides:

• 26.9 kt of praseodymium;
• 98.9 kt of neodymium;
• 2.3 kt of terbium;
• 9.1 kt of dysprosium;
• 970.3 kt of niobium oxide;
• 11,337 kt of scandium oxide;
• 4,221 kt of titanium oxide.