Congressman Adrian Smith Starts Dig of NioCorp’s Elk Creek Project Mine Portal

NioCorp Developments Ltd. (NASDAQ: NB) achieved a significant construction milestone as Congressman Adrian Smith (R-NE), senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee, officially launched excavation of the mine portal at the company's Elk Creek Critical Minerals Project in southeast Nebraska. The ceremonial groundbreaking involved the Congressman operating a 117-ton excavator to begin the first official excavation work, with Nebraska-based Gana Trucking and Excavating performing the actual construction.

The Elk Creek Project represents one of the few advanced U.S.-based projects capable of producing multiple critical minerals from a single orebody, including niobium, scandium, titanium, and several magnetic rare earths such as neodymium, dysprosium, and terbium. The project is projected to create over 400 jobs and generate more than $600 million in state and local tax revenue, establishing Nebraska as a key player in domestic critical mineral supply chains.

Congressman Smith's involvement carries particular significance given his authorship of the Critical Minerals Investment Tax Modernization Act in 2025, which would increase tax benefits for domestic rare earth and scandium production. His longstanding support for strengthening domestic critical mineral supply chains aligns with national policy objectives to reduce dependence on foreign sources of these strategically important materials.

The portal construction represents a crucial phase in the project's development timeline, establishing the primary access point for the planned underground mine operations. This milestone advances NioCorp closer to commercial production of minerals essential for high-strength steel, aluminum alloys, fuel cells, aerospace applications, and the neodymium-iron-boron magnets critical to defense and civilian technologies.