L3 and the Company intend to conduct additional carbonation testing at a larger scale to optimize carbonation operating conditions, confirm reaction kinetics, evaluate total potential extraction for niobium and other elements and complete additional mass balances, as funds become available.
11/9/2020 Jim.... Question 1)Will the potential alternative process for extracting Niobium from the Elk Creek Project seek to utilize "Carbon Capture/Storage" as a means to extract/separate Niobium from the ore stream generated from the mine? Question 2) Could the potential alternative process for extracting Niobium be utilized to extract/separate other minerals/REE from the ore stream generated from the mine?
The carbonation process to which you are referring converts non-carbonate minerals to carbonate minerals. The chemistry is similar to what we might employ but we do not at present have any plans to capture and sequester carbon, should we employ the carbonization approach we have been investigating. More work is needed before we are able to talk in more detail about this potential processing option. All the best, Jim
6/9/2021 Could the WHIMS in combination with High Pressure Grinding be considered. a) Does Niocorp's current separation process as laid out in the F.S. include a form a magnetic separation such as (WHIMS) to concentrate the ore prior to further separation into end products? b) Is/Will Niocorp currently looking into adding this (WHIMS) process to the existing P&ID flow sheet or implementing into improving the ore concentrate % prior to the Supercritical CO2 separation process now being developed? c) Could this process increase the Elk Creek Mines % of REE's or all minerals in the ore prior to further separation? Response:
Scott reports that NioCorp investigated various magnetic separation technologies as part of an overall effort to look at ore concentration techniques in 2014. We did this at two separate labs – Hazen in Golden, CO and SGS in Lakefield, Ontario. We were not able to achieve an effective rejection of the magnetic fraction of the ore. The ore in general is too fine grained and the mineral crystals are too intergrown for any physical separation to be effective.I hope this helpful. Jim Sims
Please see Jim's responses 6/17/2021- (Jim...Private funding methods have been the primary target however, ... can you offer any comment to the following questions.) a) Does/Can Niocorp qualify for a U.S. govt. (DOE/DOD) Loan, or Loan Guarantee as described above or similar ?
Quite possibly, and we are in discussions with them on this now. However, the ability of this program to fund critical minerals projects will depend upon what the Democratic leadership in Congress enacts in its appropriations bills, as new funding is required to cover the credit subsidy cost of these loans. In recent years, the Congressional appropriations process has been a very politically contentious with little bipartisan agreement on much of anything. Some opposition in the Congress has already quietly developed to the Administration’s proposal to expand this program’s traditional funding focus to include critical minerals mines, which it has not funded in the past. Regardless, it is not likely that funding levels for the credit subsidies used by these programs will be finalized until late this year, or into next year.
I will add that our team is very familiar with the DOE Loan Guarantee program, as we navigated this process some years ago. It is a very slow process and requires more than a year (for some projects) to complete. It also costs a great deal of money and resources in which to engage in this process – those costs can easily grow into the 7 figures. We continue to examine the possibilities here, however.
b) Has Niocorp possibly applied for a U.S. govt. Loan, or Loan Guarantee as described in the context above?
No decision has yet been made as to whether or not to submit a formal application to this program, as our primary financing focus has been on private sector sources.
12/22/2021 Jim: a) Has Niocorp recently applied for a U.S. govt. Loan, or Loan Guarantee as described in the context above?
We are currently examining whether or not NioCorp’s Elk Creek Project would qualify for debt financing under the DOE LGP program. Thx,Jim
Please see Jim's response to questions posed for comment-3/17/2022 A) Could you comment on what the production of higher purity niobium & titanium could be utilized for once realized?
If the higher purity niobium and titanium intermediates that L3 was able to produce at bench-scale are replicated and proven at demonstration scale, this would put us in a position to more easily move to other products beyond those outlined in our 2019 Feasibility Study. Niobium oxide for use in Li-Ion batteries is one possible example, although the production of that product would require additional processing steps beyond the higher-purity niobium intermediate that we discussed in last week’s news release. The company is not yet in a position to make a determination on whether or not, and when, to possibly expand our Niobium product offering. Higher grade TiO2 could expose us to additional markets where higher margins could be obtained. But, again, we are not in a position to speak to those possibilities in any detail yet.
B) Niocorp’s preferred separation method is SX. Are these higher purity processes part of an improved SX process or “something else”?
No, the processes we recently discussed occur in the earlier stages of the flowsheet, prior to any SX processing. We look forward to unveiling those details once these processes are verified at the demonstration plant level and once all associated work needed to complete an updated Feasibility Study is completed.
5/27/2022 -How Does Niocorp's Elk Creek Project compare to other "World Class Projects?"
It is a bit tricky to compare rare earth projects on an apples-to-apples basis, which is why we chose to limit the comparison of our Elk Creek resource to other REE projects in the U.S. There are several reasons why. For one, there are several different legal systems that determine how a project can measure and disclose aspects of its mineral resource and/or reserve. For public companies that are SEC-reporting entities (such as NioCorp), the SK1300 standard must be followed. For public companies regulated by Canadian authorities (also such as NioCorp), there is the National Instrument 43-101 disclosure standard. In Australia, there is the JORC standard. Each of these systems differ in what they allow, or don't allow, in terms of public disclosure of mineral resources and reserves. This can lead to 'apples-to-oranges' comparisons among projects. Another challenge in making such comparisons is the mineralization of an REE project. Some projects can show a high ore grade of rare earths, but the mineralization of the ore is something that is very difficult to process. For example, rare earth projects based on silicate-based minerals -- such as eudialyte -- are extraordinarily difficult to economically process in order to pull the REEs out and separate them. Others can contain relatively high levels of other impurities, such as naturally occurring radioactive elements, that can increase the cost of processing. A high ore grade doesn't mean a lot if the REE mineralization isn't amenable to processing that is technically or economically infeasible. This is why only a small handful of the more than 200 REE-containing minerals have ever been successfully processed economically at commercial scale. (The two primary REE-containing minerals in the Elk Creek Project, bastnasite and monazite, are among those that have been successfully processed for decades).Rare earth resources also differ in terms of the relative distribution of individual REEs in the host mineral. Some may have a relatively high ore grade but also have high percentages of less valuable REEs, such as cerium or lanthanum or yttrium. Others have lower ore grades but their REE mineralization is skewed more favorably to higher-value REEs, such as the magnetics neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium, and terbium which are used in NdFeB magnets. There are several other REEs that are also magnetic, such as samarium, but those are of lower value. Another way that REE projects are compared to one another is through a so-called “basket price.” This is a particularly misleading way of valuing a rare earth play, in my opinion, because a project’s ‘basket price’ assigns a dollar value to the individual REEs in the ore, multiplying total tonnes of each REE by current market price for that REE, and combines them all together. This assumes that a project will produce each and every one of the REEs in the ‘basket’ (which is almost never the case). It also ignores the enormous CAPEX and OPEX required to produce 14 or so individual REEs.
There are yet other factors that help determine the viability of a potential rare earth project. ~Some projects are aimed at only producing rare earths. That means that they are relatively riskier investments than projects that are designed to produce multiple products in addition to rare earths.
~Some projects that are relatively large in size, have high ore grades, and are comprised of processable minerals -- but they are located in places that make mining and processing difficult or very expensive. I can think of a few projects that are touted as attractive deposits but are located near or above the Arctic Circle, which generally makes mining more costly.
~ Others are located in places where there local residents, such as First Nations communities in Canada or anywhere in Greenland, can readily block a project from moving to commercial operation. Still others are in countries where local governments are less stable than in the U.S., or are simply prone to corruption, which exposes the project to high country risk.
~Many REE projects are proposed by teams that have no experience in commercially processing REEs. They tend to gloss over that fact. Knowing what I know about the challenges of producing separated, high-purity REEs, this is one of the most important factors I consider when I look at REE projects. But that is just my opinion.
A more useful comparison strategy for investors is to look at rare earth projects through multiple lenses, such as those I describe above. It is not easy to do this if one doesn’t have a pretty deep understanding of the REE industry and the challenges of successfully making these strategic metals.
Having said all of that, it’s clear that our Elk Creek carbonatite is very large and similar in total contained rare earths to some of the largest known rare earth resources in the world, including the Araxa carbonatite in Brazil and the St. Honore carbonatite in Quebec. Jim Sims
6/29/2022 Jim: I will ask a question you should be able to respond to as "PLANS" may have changed since 2020?? Question: Could the Elk Creek mine "Separation Process" now under development be utilized as a method for "In situ carbon mineralization/carbon capture"?
Not ‘in situ,’ as that implies injecting chemicals underground to perform the desired reaction.The carbonization process we are testing MAY result in some carbon sequestration, depending upon whether and how we end up making more byproducts from the magnesium and calcium we remove from the ore. That is all still TBD.
The Senate Democrats’ “Inflation Reduction Act of 2022” legislation does indeed include several provisions that may be helpful to the Elk Creek Project. These include both production tax credits that would apply to all the critical minerals that we intend to produce, additional funding for the DPA Title III program aimed at supporting critical minerals production, and additional lending authority for the Title XVII program at DOE. If these provisions survive the amendment processes in the Senate and House, the Byrd Rule in the Senate, and can be passed by both Houses of Congress and is signed into law, it could have multiple positive impacts to the Project.
The bill text, as is presently available publicly, is attached. This bill will undoubtedly change when the Senate takes up the reconciliation process, as reconciliation does not limit amendments. There will be many amendments offered by both sides. Some of the bill’s provisions may not survive challenges on the Senate floor under what we call the “Byrd Rule.” Additionally, implementing regulations must be written by agencies of jurisdiction following the bill’s enactment into law to determine many of the details of various programs and funding initiatives. As always with government programs and processes, little happens quickly.
Apart from this bill’s proposed provisions,we have been working with several federal agencies regarding potential assistance to the Elk Creek Project, but those agencies do not allow us to disclose any details of those processes. All the best,Jim
(If you have not done so... Please View/Read the following Niocorp announcements:) REPLAY: NioCorp Live Investor Update Webcast of May 25, 2022 https://www.niocorp.com/replay-niocorp-live-investor-update-webcast-of-may-25-2022/ (***NOTE: In addition to Niobium, Scandium, Titanium & REE's (Nd, Pr, Dy, Tb) - CaCO3, MgCO3 & an Fe product are all shown in the new "simplified P&ID's". These are interesting Byproducts & could have uses for the Cement, Fertilizer & Steel industries T.B.D.?)
(2) a new "advanced manufacturing" tax credit for domestic production of critical minerals; (3) a $500 million appropriation for "enhanced" use of the Defense Production Act, which President Biden recently invoked to support critical minerals production; and (4) new authorization for $40 billion in loan guarantees under Title XVII of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which could be used to support critical minerals projects.
8/8/2022 Senate passes $739bn healthcare and climate bill https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/08/first-thing-senate-passes-739bn-healthcare-and-climate-bill (THE CLIMATE BILL has passed & there are Numerous Bills before the 117th Congress that address "Critical Minerals") FORM YOUR OWN OPINIONS & CONCLUSIONS: My "To Do List" is getting shorter! a) Complete all Demo-Testing & announce results for all "Products!" (Niobium, Scandium, Titanium & REE's (Nd, Pr, Dy, Tb) - CaCO3, MgCO3 & an Fe product are all shown & maybe some GHG??) b) Independently verify all results & release an updated/amended 2022 F.S. with all economics/numbers$$. c) Obtain a "Substantial Finance$$" by (A,B,C,D,E... or any combination of methods to kick off construction. (Private, Banks, Govt. Agencies, Anchor Investor.....)
I see several "Dots" connecting & Niocorp/L3's "PROGRESS" continues as a method to an end. (Some entity/s are interested imho... ) Front Row seats with many! Chico
AI
