NioCorp announces $10 million DOD grant for Nebraska mine

A company hoping to build a rare-metals mine in southeast Nebraska has received a boost from the federal government.

NioCorp Developments this week announced it has been awarded up to $10 million from the U.S. Department of Defense for its proposed Elk Creek mine in Johnson County.

The money is specifically to help NioCorp develop a source of scandium, which has many military applications, including making aircraft components more lightweight and developing high-strength materials for munitions. Specifically, it would be used to pay for additional feasibility studies and to boost reserve drilling requirements.

Scandium is one of the metals NioCorp hopes to mine from the site near Elk Creek, which is about 70 miles southeast of Lincoln. Others include titanium and niobium. The U.S. has to import all three, and China is the biggest supplier of both scandium and titanium.

“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, NioCorp CEO Mark Smith said in a news release.

The company has been trying to develop the mine for more than a decade, and the biggest hurdle has been raising the more than $1 billion it will take to build and operate it.

NioCorp said in the news release that it believes the DOD grant will help it in its efforts to secure additional financing, including up to $800 million in debt financing from the U.S. Export-Import Bank.

The $10 million grant wasn’t the only news from NioCorp this week. The company also announced that it bought three parcels of land near the Elk Creek site that it plans to use for productions infrastructure as well as road improvements.