Drilling begins at proposed Nebraska rare earths mine for first time in decade; NioCorp says politics creating ‘strong tailwinds’

By Aaron Hegarty

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    ELK CREEK, Nebraska (KETV) — For the first time since 2015, there’s drilling underway at the NioCorp Development’s proposed rare earths mine near Elk Creek.

There’s no mining yet. That was first discussed as a possibility in the ’70s, but is still years away. But NioCorp says the drilling will provide more details on what’s in the ground and allow them to unlock the funding necessary to start.

“I’ve got to know people in the Elk Creek area pretty well over the years,” NioCorp’s Chief Operating Officer Scott Honan told KETV. “They’re a very patient bunch.”

NioCorp executives plan to meet with White House and Department of Defense officials this week.

The public company’s CEO, Mark Smith, says the politics and new attention to rare earths and critical minerals is giving their project “strong tailwinds.”

China announced limits and restrictions on its exports of rare earths and critical minerals as in response to increased U.S. tariffs. The country controls around 90% of the world’s rare earths market, according to several sources.

The metals are important for building high-tech devices.

For example, Smith said China told South Korea it cannot send any rare earths they send to the country to the U.S.

“This is a very serious issue, and we’re going to start feeling the impacts of this, I think, before the end of May,” Smith said.

Drilling started Tuesday after $20 million of investor-backed funding was acquired, the company said.

The drilling will last for about three months. Then, in six to nine months, the company expects another feasibility study to prove they deserve an around $800 million loan from the Export–Import Bank of the United States.

The total cost of the project is about $1.2 billion.

Once they obtain funding, they expect it to be another three years before production can begin. NioCorp plans to not only mine the minerals but also refine them on site.

Still, NioCorp said they are the only fully permitted rare earths project in the country, and there are only one or two active operations within the country’s borders.

In 2022, then Nebraska Governor-elect Jim Pillen said the mine would bring a huge economic impact to the state, employing nearly 500 full-time employees and thousands of supporting jobs.

Nine new holes are planned to expand the data on what’s below. The rare earths deposit is believed to be under at least 60 acres of land from depths of 600 to 3,000 feet below.

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