The Elements of Innovation Discovered
The Elements of Innovation Discovered
Sorted by date Results 1 - 21 of 21
Consortium secures UK funding to create low-carbon alloys using recycled aluminum strengthened by scandium. In a significant move toward sustainable automotive manufacturing, an industry consortium including Aston Martin, Boeing UK, and NioCorp Developments Ltd. has secured approximately $3.8 million in UK funding to develop lightweight aluminum alloys and cast components using recycled aluminum strengthened by scandium. This collaborative initiative, dubbed Project Pivot...
Underground mineral source coupled with environmentally responsible processing presents sustainable solution for domestic rare earth production. NioCorp Developments Ltd. plans to recycle post-consumer rare earth permanent magnets and produce commercial-grade magnetic rare earth oxides at its proposed Elk Creek critical minerals project in Nebraska. All of the minerals to be produced at Elk Creek are officially designated as critical to the United States and are essential to...
Projects, initiatives, and technology expand scandium supply chain security. While it may not have quite as strong a chemical bond to its adopted lanthanide siblings as they do each other, scandium does possess similar enough characteristics and is almost always found at the same geological gatherings (deposits) as the rest of its rare earth family. Named for the Latin word for Scandinavia, "Scandia," – as the mineral was thought to only dwell off the Nordic peninsula – sca...
Cutting-edge innovations turn aluminum into a cornerstone of the green transition, reshaping technology and the future. Imagine a metal that's as light as it is strong, capable of taking cars further on a single charge and helping planes soar higher with less fuel. Enter aluminum – the unsung hero of the green revolution. This year, aluminum isn't just playing a supporting role in the shift to sustainability; it's stealing the spotlight, driving innovations that are making o...
An all-of-government strategy is beginning to unfold in the US. Over the first two years following the passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act, the U.S. Department of Energy has invested billions of dollars into establishing a clean energy supply chain in the United States. These heavy investments, however, have neglected one vital link – the domestic mines needed to supply the processing facilities, battery plants, and other energy t...
One way to extend the range of an electric vehicle, or even get better gas mileage out of a conventional internal combustion automobile, is to lighten the load. NioCorp Developments Ltd. is working with automakers to develop strong and lightweight aluminum-scandium auto parts in the United States that will do just that. NioCorp has been advancing a strategy to commercially produce aluminum-scandium master alloy, which only needs a small dose of scandium to bolster the...
As first step in a 3-phase strategy to upgrade Elk Creek scandium to Al-Sc master alloy at commercial scale. The need for durable and lightweight alloys for electric vehicles, mass transit systems, military hardware, and aerospace is driving increasing interest in establishing commercial production of aluminum-scandium master alloy in the United States. NioCorp Developments Ltd.'s Elk Creek deposit in Nebraska offers an important domestic source of the critical metal...
Scoping study finds implementing system could significantly reduce costs, time, and footprint in one fell swoop. In the pursuit of a domestic supply of the rare earths and other minerals critical to the United States, NioCorp Developments Ltd. has unveiled the results of a scoping study that demonstrates that the implementation of a Railveyor ore haulage system has the potential to reduce the carbon footprint, costs, and the time it takes to get to full production at its Elk...
Critical minerals company receives preliminary term sheet for mine financing from EXIM. The Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) has extended an offer to loan NioCorp Developments Ltd. $800 million to help fund the development of Elk Creek, a critical minerals project in Nebraska that would provide a domestic source of niobium, titanium, scandium, and rare earths. "Our goal is to make North America less dependent on foreign suppliers for the critical minerals we...
A growing imbalance in the supply and demand for rare earths is creating a challenge for the companies that produce this suite of technology elements and an opportunity for the scientists seeking ways to leverage their unique properties in new and intriguing ways. While it is true that the global transition to zero-carbon energy and transportation is creating new rare earths demand that threatens to outstrip the global supply, the real disparity has more to do with which of...
Global automaker enters into terms with NioCorp for EV magnet rare earths from the future Elk Creek mine in Nebraska. Continuing a flurry of investments into mining projects at the front end of electric vehicle supply chains, Stellantis has entered into a preliminary agreement to buy magnet rare earths from a future mine at NioCorp Developments Ltd.'s Elk Creek critical mineral project in Nebraska. The neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium, and terbium that Stellantis hopes to...
NioCorp looks at using Elk Creek scandium in Al-Sc alloys; increased niobium, titanium recoveries could boost economics of future mine. From the launch of a project aimed at producing incredibly strong and lightweight aluminum-scandium alloys, to significantly improving the recovery of niobium and titanium, NioCorp Developments Ltd. has released a flurry of promising new developments that elevate its goal of building a critical minerals hub around its Elk Creek project in...
An updated feasibility study for developing a mine at Elk Creek confirms that the proposed niobium-titanium-scandium mine in Nebraska also boasts one of the richest stores of rare earth elements in the United States. According to the new report released by NioCorp Developments Ltd. on May 19, Elk Creek hosts 632,900 metric tons of total rare earth oxides, 970,300 metric tons of niobium oxide, along with 11,337 metric tons of scandium oxide and 4.2 million metric tons of...
Proposed merger with GXII would provide Nasdaq listing, access to cash for Elk Creek. To fund the development of a mine at its Elk Creek project in Nebraska that produces niobium, rare earths, and other metals critical to American industry, NioCorp Developments Ltd. is merging with GX Acquisition Corp. II, a blank check corporation with nearly US$300 million in the bank and a Nasdaq stock exchange listing that will make access to additional capital possible. In fact, NioCorp...
Elk Creek demo plant recovers magnesium-calcium carbonate with 99% purity. As an initial step toward the ultimate goal of producing niobium, rare earths, scandium, and titanium at a future Elk Creek Mine, NioCorp Developments Ltd. announced that its demonstration-scale processing plant in Quebec, Canada has produced a high-grade calcium-magnesium carbonate from ore obtained from its critical minerals project in Nebraska. The idea behind removing the calcium and magnesium from...
Superconductors, super magnets, and superalloys, this metal is super The stories behind the discovery of many elements in the periodic table make for a fascinating read, but perhaps top among them should be the 41st element, a shiny, white metal known as niobium – for its story spans over centuries, with twists and turns befitting even the best piece of fiction. Due to the astute observations of Charles Hatchett, a self-educated scientist and analytical chemist, niobium was d...
Demonstration plant to verify simplified critical minerals recovery Looking to expand the suite of critical metals produced from a future mine at Elk Creek, NioCorp Developments Ltd. is testing a simplified process for recovering rare earth elements alongside the niobium, scandium, and titanium for which the Nebraska critical minerals project is best known. According to a feasibility study completed earlier this year, an underground mine at Elk Creek would produce an...
NioCorp Developments Ltd. says testing has confirmed that high-pressure grinding rolls technology is an energy-efficient and low-emission alternative for reducing the size of ore to recover the niobium, scandium, titanium, and potentially rare earths at its Elk Creek project in Nebraska. Under the mine plan laid out in a feasibility study, Elk Creek would produce 7,220 metric tons of ferroniobium, 95 metric tons of scandium trioxide, and 11,642 metric tons of titanium dioxide...
The $740.5 billion National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 passed by Congress last week instructs the Pentagon to secure domestic and allied sources of strategic minerals and metals. "The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the striking vulnerabilities and gaps in our domestic supply chains, and the need to invest in critical mineral manufacturing and processing has taken on a new urgency," said Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, who authored two amendments addressing...
NioCorp Developments Ltd. Sept. 9 announced progress on a new and more environmentally friendly process for extracting niobium from its Elk Creek superalloys material project in Nebraska. A series of metallurgical tests carried out by Utah-based L3 Process Development has established carbonation as a potential alternative metallurgical process for the extraction of niobium from ore that NioCorp expects to mine at Elk Creek. Carbonation is a relatively clean, environmentally...
Though it is tough to distinguish the nearly identical properties of niobium and tantalum in nature, at the workplace, one of these critical twin metals typically dons a hardhat and boots to work in the construction and energy industries while you are more apt to find the other working in the high-tech sector. Their differences, however, are subtle, and their careers sometimes overlap. "The leading use of niobium is in the production of high-strength steel alloys used in pipel...
