Niocorp Developments Ltd (NB)

[Contrarian58]

Any topic relevant to the success of Niocorp should be fair game on this board. That includes any potential competitors in the niobium, scandium, titanium, or to-be-name-later product space, including Cradle, Clean TeQ, Alkane, Texas Rare Earths, or the multitude or others vying for a piece of the pie.

I looked into Cradle and other carbonatite resources back in 2011 when I was looking to roll my Molycorp windfall into another rare earth startup. Panda Hill is not a new discovery by any means, having first been mined in the 1950's. The fact that it has languished for more than half a century is telling. Although Tanzania is not the Congo, neither is it Australia, Canada, or Nebraska. If you look at what Elk Creek has going for it relative to Panda Hill, the balance clearly tips in favor of the former.

Success in mining requires far more than a promising deposit, or even a favorable DFS. Just Google "Pebble Mine" or for a niobium-specific case, "Seis Lagos," a likely undevelopable Brazilian niobium deposit six times the size or Araxa. Converting dirt and/or rock into shareholder profits requires the right combination of resource, location, process economics, market, regulation, "social license," personnel, and luck. Elk Creek may not be the best in every category, but it's certainly the best overall, and the reason I bought another 25,000 shares this morning.