Ten Nebraska Legislators Observe Construction of Entrance Portal into Elk Creek Mine During Tour

On Friday, October 2, NioCorp Developments gave a tour of the Elk Creek Niobium Mine to 10 Nebraska Legislative Senators and/or representatives.
Mark Smith, president and CEO of NioCorp Developments, expressed his appreciation to the members of the team involved in the development of the mine. These members included Scott Honan, CEO of the Elk Creek Resource Corporation; Neal Shah, chief financial officer; Jim Sims, chief communications officer; Director of Investor Relations, Alex Guthrie; and Board member Tony Fulton as well as local supporters, Greg Krueger and his wife Joyce, and Lavon Heidemann, as well as Doug Goracke, Economic Developer for the City of Tecumseh.
According to Mark Smith, NioCorp Developments has spent the last 15 years building relationships and partnerships with local community members and stockholders, as well as at the state level with the Nebraska governor and legislative representatives. Smith then shared his appreciation of the passage of LB 1165 and the impact it has had relating to the state of Nebraska's financing and engineering representation in moving the Elk Creek mining project forward.
State Sen. Bob Hallstrom of Syracuse, who represents the 1st Legislative District, welcomed the group and called the project an important development for southeast Nebraska.
“Here in Johnson County, near the small community of Elk Creek, NioCorp is advancing its Critical Minerals Project,” Hallstrom said. “Work on the mine portal is now underway. This is the first tangible step toward an underground operation that will produce niobium, scandium, titanium and several magnetic rare earth elements, material the United States currently imports almost entirely.”
“Here in Johnson County, near the small community of Elk Creek, NioCorp is advancing its Critical Minerals Project. Work on the mine portal is now underway. This is the first tangible step toward an underground operation that will produce niobium, scandium, titanium and several magnetic rare earth elements – material the United States currently imports almost entirely.
During the tour, senators and their representatives observed NioCorp Developments crews removing dirt to the entrance portal of the Elk Creek mine which is expected to be about 2,700 feet in depth. 
Scott Honan, chief operating officer and president of the Elk Creek Resources Corporation informed the Legislators that once extraction of ore body from the niobium mine starts, crews will dig from a depth of 600 feet down to 3,000 feet. The width of the mine will be 550 feet. A spiral ramp will be designed for extracting ore. Once extracted, the ore body will be consistently removed from the mine by a rail conveyor system which is electrically operated 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Later, Mark Smith explained the various uses of niobium, scandium, titanium and rare earth elements. Currently, 90 percent of the niobium production comes from Brazil; 75 percent of scandium comes from China. Smith said the United States is expected to become the Scandium King as the Elk Creek mine is expected to produce 118 ton of scandium each year.
Smith explained that the rare earth elements extracted from the Elk Creek mine will be a by-product as there is not enough rare earth materials for primary production. However, these rare earth materials are in demand for permanent magnets, precision guided missiles, robotics, electronic devices, wind turbines and electric vehicle motors.