Thanks for pointing that out, as i believe many people had the same question(s) about the timing of the announcement of each phase of the demo testing......
This messaging by Mark Smith (at the 17:00 minute mark) is very different than the information that Jim S. communicated to me on April 9 which i subsequently shared with the MB and is posted as a sticky note: See Below:
Questions:
1.) Has the Elk Creek Project production scale testing ‘infrastructure’ been set up yet? If not, when is this expected to be completed? The bulk of the necessary equipment has arrived at the demonstration plant and is in the process of being set up. The team is awaiting a few additional pieces but those are not slowing down the testing processes at this point.
2.) Has production scale testing begun yet? Yes. However, it is important to understand that the demonstration plant is not “production scale.” This is a small-scale demonstration plant that will operate at a feed rate of 10 kg/h, versus production scale which is 2764 tonnes per day.
3.) When can shareholders expect an ‘interim update NR’ regarding the status of production testing? Or will the next update be provided when the testing is completed and the FS is updated? Yes, we will issue updates as often as possible, when significant milestones worthy of an announcement are reached.
4.) Given the highly reported urgency in getting CE/REE mining up and running and producing in the US, is L3, as Niocorp’s testing contractor, working multiple shifts, i.e. day, night, 3 shifts per day and/or weekend shifts- to accomplish/complete the production testing for the Elk Creek Project and ultimate movement to finance closure? Or is it a single 8 hour , mon-fri - daily shift? The L3 team is indeed working very hard on this project, as it will help to prove out some innovative metallurgical approaches they have designed to significantly improve the efficiency of parts of our processing flow sheet. Typical hours at this point are 8 AM to midnight, and work continues on the weekends. While the L3 team is working long days, there is no logistical advantage to working multiple shifts as the work is being directed by a few key scientists and engineers who are directing a larger group of technicians.
5.) Is the FS being incrementally updated concurrently with the results of production testing, or does the FS get updated at the end of the testing? The FS is being incrementally updated as the work progresses. While this will streamline the issuance of a new technical report, please keep in mind that this a complex undertaking with approximately 20 authors, and the schedule for completing an update will be dictated by a particular critical path that will flow through engineering and costing and which relies on the outcome of the demonstration plant.
6.) Can you please provide any general/ballpark or best practice comparison estimates on the time it will take to update the FS report once the prod testing has completed? The entire process of demonstration plant testing and updating the FS will take a matter of months, and certainly should be announced in 2022.
7.) In a previous response to one of my questions, you stated that financial package meetings are ongoing with interested finance parties ( even while the L3 bench/production scale testing is happening in the background). Pls. clarify to help me understand how meetings with potential financier(s) are in progress without the requisite results of the production scale testing results. Isn’t any possible financing terms (and progress on the financing front) now dependent on the values i.e., i.e., cost numbers, production quantities, production costs, additional revenue contribution, etc. etc…. that come from the production testing results? Or perhaps financing meetings can be done using ‘hypothetical testing numbers, that are based on very educated engineering estimates, that would of course be updated with ACTUAL quantified test result(s) numbers when testing is completed. It is the latter. Please note that the metallurgical testwork and demonstration plant are confirmatory in nature and are intended to optimize design aspects like reaction kinetics and the impact of recycle streams that are best investigated under continuous operating conditions. We have extensive experience in rare earth processing and have estimated and modeled the existing and proposed metallurgical systems. We are certainly able to use our experience and existing models and cost estimates in a financing context in current multiple discussions.
