NioCorp Developments (NASDAQ:NB) released on Tuesday the results of an updated feasibility study for its Elk Creek critical minerals project in southeastern Nebraska.
The study outlines the project’s evolution into a 40-year, integrated U.S. operation with a net present value (NPV) exceeding $4 billion that is expected to produce eight critical-mineral products from a single ore body, the company said.
The 2026 feasibility study estimates a pre-tax net present value at an 8% discount of $4.1 billion, an after-tax NPV8% of $3.4 billion, a pre-tax internal rate of return (IRR) of 24% and an after-tax IRR of 22.8%.
Over the projected mine life, the Elk Creek project is projected to generate approximately $37.4 billion in life-of-mine revenue, $608 million in average annual EBITDA2, and $519 million in average annual operating cash flow.
The Elk Creek project is expected to produce eight products, all designated by the US Government as critical minerals: ferroniobium scandium trioxide, titanium tetrachloride, and several rare earth oxide products, including neodymium-praseodymium oxide, dysprosium oxide and terbium oxide, samarium-europium-gadolinium carbonate, and heavy rare earth carbonate.
This expanded product suite positions the Elk Creek Project to serve multiple US critical-mineral and defense supply chains from an integrated mine and processing facility that has secured its major construction-related permits, NioCorp said.
“Our 2026 feasibility study transforms the Elk Creek project into the kind of critical minerals project the United States needs to have online as soon as possible,” NioCorp CEO Mark A. Smith said in a news release.
“Few critical minerals projects in the U.S. can match the Elk Creek Project’s combination of a 40-year mine life, all major construction-related permits already in hand, and the planned production of eight critical mineral products from a single ore body.”
“The United States is heavily reliant on imports for every single one of the products that NioCorp plans to manufacture,” Smith said. “NioCorp offers an American-made solution: secure, long-term domestic production of materials essential to national defense, advanced manufacturing, energy resilience, and the technologies that will power the U.S. economy for decades to come.”
NioCorp’s stock closed the day down 1.6% on the NASDAQ. The company has a $780.3 million market capitalization.
