u/Important_Nobody_000

It's on its way to a depth of ~150 feet, a major milestone as we continue building the underground access to the mine.

https://x.com/i/status/2084646645875024010

https://x.com/NioCorp/status/2084646645875024010/video/1

The United States’ diminishing armaments stockpiles have been highlighted by ongoing conflicts in Iran and Ukraine, but the problem runs much deeper in a slow procurement process that has weakened necessary supply chains, experts said.

From an industry perspective, the lack of munition stockpiles and rare earth metals is a “serious, serious issue,” said Mark Smith, CEO of mineral company NioCorp Development.

The United States has become too reliant on China for rare earth metals used in defense applications and the process of acquiring more domestically is too slow, experts said at an event hosted by the National Security Institute July 15.

“We don’t start a mine or processing facility in the United States overnight,” Smith said during the event. Studies released last year placed the United States as “the second-worst nation in the world in terms of the number of years it takes to get a mine and processing facility on the run,” averaging 29 years, he said.

While there has been increased attention under the Trump administration, Mackenzie Eaglen, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said that the structures and financials behind current efforts are too complicated.

Large deals to open new facilities, factories, energetics and chemical plants are “really complicated” and most people in government have not done them before or worked in the industry, she said at the event.

There is no intergovernmental effort and the Pentagon is “hitting walls left and right” because nobody at the top is trying to resolve the challenges Defense Department customers are running into, she said.

Ongoing conflict has only highlighted these weaknesses, and U.S. stockpile shortages far predate operations in Iran and Ukraine, said Rachel Hoff, policy director at the Ronald Reagan institute.

“In a sense, that’s not great because we’re all finding out about this huge problem that has existed,” Hoff said. “But in another sense, there’s a silver lining and a real opportunity to take advantage of this moment” for Congress, the Defense Department and political leadership.

“Industry are seized by this problem of the shortcomings, not just in our supply and in our stockpiles of munitions, but also in the challenges that undergird what it would take to rebuild,” she said.

Dominique Yantko, associate vice president of National Security Technology Practice at Beacon Global Strategies, said awareness of the problem is growing.

“I think in the last 18 months we’ve seen some reforms that actually start to put the needle on this, where you’ve got on-ramps for new entrants that are producing more rapidly developed and field-based capabilities,” Yantko said. Multi-year government frameworks are sending demand to industry, allowing them to provide investment earlier.

However, progress remains hampered by the bureaucracy of a process designed to go slowly, Eaglen said. Everything has to rise to a senior level to be talked about and the system is designed for “everyone to say no and no one to say yes.”

Continuing resolutions have also contributed to the slow processes, bringing “almost everything” to a screeching halt, Eaglen said. The lack of funds created by the Defense Department’s two years of continuing resolutions will continue to affect “every component” of munitions production.

The answer is not simple, but it will require a cultural change, she said.

While steps are being taken to increase munition stockpiles and domestically produce rare earth metals, Smith said American innovation and creativity will solve the problem, noting an encouraging increase in trade school admissions.

In the end, everyone in the United States government, including the Defense Department, Congress and sub-tier suppliers, has a piece in the problem, Yantko said. “If you actually think about solving it through that system as opposed to relying on Hail Marys, I think that’s actually the approach we need to take.”

Portal construction continues, stormwater and dewatering lagoons near complete, Access road taking shape. Outer fence construction must be starting soon, grading for it in progress. Road construction starting soon as well, relocated water line to make way for dirt work.

Lots of moving parts folks and its getting to be more as they move forward. The delays are frustrating but certainly there is a reason that I'm certain will be brought to light when it can.

  

I think a lot of the frustration around the feasibility study comes from the early timelines sounding simpler than the reality of the project. And to be fair, Mark wasn’t trying to mislead anyone — he was giving the best estimates he had at the time. The problem is that Elk Creek isn’t a normal project, and the deeper the team got into the technical work, the more complicated it became.

A multi‑mineral carbonatite is one of the hardest deposit types in the mining world. You’re not just proving up one commodity — you’re proving up niobium, scandium, titanium, & multiple rearearths and the interactions between all of these circuits. Every time the metallurgy gets refined, it affects the engineering. Every time the engineering shifts, it affects the economics. It’s a domino chain.

Then layer on the fact that this isn’t just any feasibility study — it has to meet EXIM‑level, lender‑grade standards. That means more test work, more pilot work, more third‑party verification, and a much higher bar for what counts as “done.” Add in the underground design and the Traxys agreement taking longer than expected, and the schedule naturally stretched.

So when people ask why the dates slipped, the answer in my opinion is: the project turned out to be harder than anyone expected, and the team adjusted as the technical reality became clearer.

If anything, the delays show they chose accuracy over shortcuts. And for a project that’s supposed to run for decades, that’s the right call, Imo.

https://mailchi.mp/niocorp.com/niocorp-to-participate-in-the-jp-morgan-natural-resources-conference?e=8b2b97c99e

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Executive Chairman and CEO Mark A. Smith will participate in the J.P. Morgan Natural Resources Conference: An Energy, Power, Renewables & Mining Event on Wednesday, June 24.

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Mr. Smith will also join Bill Peterson, Executive Director of North America Equity Research for Metals & Mining at J.P. Morgan for a 30-minute fireside chat at 10:20 a.m. ET. 

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A live webcast (audio only) of the fireside chat can be accessed here: https://jpmorgan.metameetings.net/events/naturalresources26/sessions/319266-niocorp-developments-ltd/webcast/public.

https://youtu.be/HAPWaqXcedQ?feature=shared

https://mailchi.mp/niocorp.com/construction-of-the-elk-creek-project-mine-portal-featured-on-1011-now-koln-news?e=8b2b97c99e

We’re pleased to share recent coverage of NioCorp and the Elk Creek Critical Minerals Project by 10/11 News (KOLN) in Nebraska.

 

NioCorp’s Chief Operating Officer, Scott Honan was on hand to highlight recent construction progress of the Elk Creek Mine Portal and the project’s role in strengthening U.S. critical mineral supply chains.

Let's GOOO!!!

Nice to see NioCorp in the news again.