U.S. DoD’s Defense Production Act Title III Award Is Expected to Help Establish the Nation’s First Domestic Scandium Mine-to-Master-Alloy Supply Chain

Funds Are Also Expected to Assist Elk Creek Resources Corp., a subsidiary of NioCorp, and a U.S. DoD Prime Contractor in Accelerating Development, Qualification, and Deployment of Aluminum-Scandium Alloy Components into Defense Aerospace Systems

DoD Support Is Expected to Facilitate the U.S. Export-Import Bank’s Consideration of up to $800 Million in Debt Financing to NioCorp in a “Whole of Government” Approach to Critical Minerals Development

NioCorp Developments Ltd. (NASDAQ:NB) is pleased to announce that its subsidiary Elk Creek Resources Corp. has been awarded up to $10 million, subject to the achievement of certain milestones, from the U.S. Department of Defense via Title III of the Defense Production Act to support the establishment of a domestic scandium mine-to-manufacture supply chain via the Elk Creek Critical Minerals Project in southeast Nebraska.

The award to ECRC follows a federal appropriations plus-up in the Fiscal Year 2024 DoD appropriations bill that was championed by U.S. Senator Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), other Members of the Nebraska Congressional delegation, and both Democrats and Republicans in Congress.  The investment by DoD aligns with President Trump’s March 20, 2025, Executive Order 14241 on Immediate Measures to Increase American Mineral Production’s goal to facilitate domestic mineral production.

Located near Elk Creek, Nebraska, ECRC is developing the United States’ first polymetallic deposit targeting production of scandium, niobium, titanium, and other critical minerals upon which the U.S. is completely or largely reliant on foreign producers.

“We want to thank President Trump, Vice President Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Senators Fischer and Ricketts, and many other government leaders for the opportunity to secure this important funding for the Elk Creek Critical Minerals Project,” said Mark A. Smith, NioCorp CEO and Executive Chairman. “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.  In doing so, we will greatly reduce our dangerous dependence on China and other adversarial nations for scandium and other defense-critical minerals.”

“By facilitating the Elk Creek Project’s advancement to construction and eventual commercial operation, this DoD award will also help America ramp up domestic production of scandium, niobium, titanium, and other critical minerals that are vital to many defense and commercial technologies and which today are almost entirely produced in China,” Mr. Smith added.

This DPA Title III award is expected to enable the completion of feasibility study-level engineering, additional reserve drilling, and updated cost estimates for the Elk Creek Project.  In turn, these updates are expected to facilitate NioCorp’s pursuit of project finance, including up to $800 million in debt financing from the U.S. Export-Import Bank.  This award and EXIM’s potential financing would demonstrate an integrated “whole of government” approach to promoting domestic critical mineral production for defense and essential civilian technologies.

As part of this effort, ECRC expects to advance the integration of aluminum-scandium alloys into aerospace platforms in conjunction with a defense prime contractor. Successful development of the Elk Creek Project is expected to enable ECRC to become one of the first U.S. producers of scandium, which will enhance critical DoD systems such as advanced propulsion, next-gen energy systems, and multiple structural components and components for aircraft programs of record, hypersonic weapons systems, and future aircraft.  Scarcity is an obstacle that has restricted wider industry adoption of scandium to modernize and improve the performance of major aerospace and hypersonic platforms.

Scandium alloys are increasingly replacing titanium alloy and legacy aluminum alloy components in DoD systems due to superior lightweight, high-strength characteristics. Geological scarcity, limited production infrastructure, and market failures drive scandium industrial shortages. China, Russia and Ukraine account for most output while the U.S. has virtually no domestic production and limited alloy development efforts. Establishing a vertically integrated domestic supply chain for scandium alloy production enables multiple avenues for innovation in defense aerospace.

The last recorded scandium mining in the United States occurred in 1969.  Substantially all current scandium production, in any form, now occurs in China. DPA Title III investments like this one are key for reducing the U.S. defense industrial base’s dependence on foreign sources for critical minerals.

ABOUT NIOCORP

Through its subsidiary Elk Creek Resources Corporation, NioCorp is developing the Elk Creek Project that is expected to produce niobium, scandium, and titanium.  The Company also is evaluating the potential to produce several rare earths from the Elk Creek Project.  Niobium is used to produce specialty alloys as well as High Strength, Low Alloy steel, which is a lighter, stronger steel used in automotive, structural, and pipeline applications. Scandium is a specialty metal that can be combined with Aluminum to make alloys with increased strength and improved corrosion resistance. Scandium is also a critical component of advanced solid oxide fuel cells. Titanium is used in various lightweight alloys and is a key component of pigments used in paper, paint and plastics and is also used for aerospace applications, armor, and medical implants.  Magnetic rare earths, such as neodymium, praseodymium, terbium, and dysprosium are critical to the making of neodymium-iron-boron magnets, which are used across a wide variety of defense and civilian applications.