Niocorp Developments Ltd (NB)

[Hetfield]

NioCorp Completes Geotechnical Drilling Campaign at the Elk Creek Critical Minerals Mine Site

Drilling and Analysis of Glacial Till Soil Layer Done in Advance of Proposed Land Grading, Early Works, Heavy Construction, and Eventual Foundation Pours for the Elk Creek Project


CENTENNIAL, Colo. (June 1, 2023) – CENTENNIAL, Colo. (June 1, 2023) – NioCorp Developments Ltd. (“NioCorp” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ:NB) (TSX:NB) today announced the successful completion of a geotechnical drilling campaign at the Elk Creek Critical Minerals Project (the “Elk Creek Project”) in southeast Nebraska, which was done in advance of the proposed site preparation, grading, heavy construction, and eventual foundation pours for the Elk Creek Project that are expected to commence once sufficient financing is obtained.

The campaign involved drilling 16 boreholes and 20 test pits across the one square mile Elk Creek Project site, analyzing soil samples, and generating data for engineering design firms that are continuing to finalize plans for the potential construction of the facility. The drilling explored the "glacial till" geological layer, which is comprised of the first 30 meters or so of soil, clay, and sand that covers much of southeast Nebraska. This layer of sediment was deposited by repeated glaciation that occurred in the Pleistocene epoch that ended approximately 11,000 year ago.

“This important drilling is part of a site-wide investigation that helps us to understand how the soils vary across the site so that we can carefully plan our facility layout and construction plans,” said Scott Honan, NioCorp’s Chief Operating Officer, who supervised the fieldwork.

“What is exciting to me about this drilling campaign is that this is the kind of work that you do before you start some of the important site preparation work in terms of clearing the land, grading the land, getting it ready to bring in temporary facilities and utilities, construction trailers and other supporting infrastructure, and launching the early works needed to support the full construction package.”

“We expect that completing this work now will allow us to move that much more quickly to construction once we have sufficient financing necessary to move to that stage,” he added.




Teams from Omaha-based Olsson and Denver-based Tierra Group Intl.
conduct geotechnical drilling operations at the Elk Creek Project Site.


Qualified Person:

Scott Honan, M.Sc., SME-RM, Chief Operating Officer of the Company, a Qualified Person as defined in National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, has reviewed and approved the technical information, and verified the data, contained in this press release.

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Qualified Person:

Scott Honan, M.Sc., SME-RM, Chief Operating Officer of the Company, a Qualified Person as defined in National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, has reviewed and approved the technical information, and verified the data, contained in this press release.

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