NioCorp Developments Ltd. reported the results of an updated Feasibility Study for its Elk Creek Critical Minerals Project outlining the project’s evolution into a 40-year, integrated U.S. operation with a Net Present Value exceeding $4 billion that is expected to produce eight critical-mineral products from a single ore body.

The 2026 Feasibility Study estimates a pre-tax net present value at an 8% discount of $4.1 billion, an after-tax NPV_8% of $3.4 billion, a pre-tax Internal Rate of Return of 24% and an after-tax IRR of 22.8%. Over the projected mine life, the Elk Creek Project is projected to generate approximately $37.4 billion in life-of-mine revenue, $608 million in average annual EBITDA², and $519 million in average annual operating cash flow.

The Elk Creek Project is expected to produce eight products, all designated by the U.S. Government as critical minerals: ferroniobium (“FeNb”), scandium trioxide (“Sc₂O₃”), titanium tetrachloride (“TiCl₄”), and several rare earth oxide products, including neodymium-praseodymium oxide (“NdPr”), dysprosium oxide (“Dy”) and terbium oxide (“Tb”), samarium-europium-gadolinium (“SEG”) carbonate, and heavy rare earth carbonate. This expanded product suite creates a more diversified revenue profile while positioning the Elk Creek Project to serve multiple U.S. critical-mineral and defense supply chains from an integrated mine and processing facility that has secured its major construction-related permits.

A technical report summarizing the 2026 Feasibility Study was prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects  for the Company by Dahrouge Geological Consulting Ltd. and the other Qualified Persons and has been filed on SEDAR+. The 2026 Technical Report can be accessed here.

“Our 2026 Feasibility Study transforms the Elk Creek Project into the kind of critical minerals project the United States needs to have online as soon as possible,” said Mark A. Smith, CEO and Executive Chairman of NioCorp. “Few critical minerals projects in the U.S. can match the Elk Creek Project’s combination of a 40-year mine life, all major construction-related permits already in hand, and the planned production of eight critical mineral products from a single ore body.”

“The United States is heavily reliant on imports for every single one of the products that NioCorp plans to manufacture,” Mr. Smith said.  “NioCorp offers an American-made solution: secure, long-term domestic production of materials essential to national defense, advanced manufacturing, energy resilience, and the technologies that will power the U.S. economy for decades to come.”

“For NioCorp, this feasibility study delivers a larger, stronger, and more highly de-risked project,” he added. “Eight products give us access to more markets, create multiple and highly diversified revenue streams, and reduce our exposure to the price of any one critical mineral. Combined with stronger economics and a 40-year mine life, we are now in a much stronger position to advance detailed engineering and project financing. Our job now is to turn this highly unique and important opportunity in Nebraska into a new source of American jobs, industrial strength, and critical mineral security right here at home.”

A Diversified, Long-Life, Eight-Product Operation

The 2026 Technical Report’s updated economics incorporate the expanded product offering, revised mine and processing design, an updated Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve and current capital and operating cost estimates. Key economic results are summarized in Table 1 below.

Table 1: Highlighted 2026 Elk Creek Project Feasibility Study Economic Results

 A Diversified Domestic Source of Critical Minerals in a Bifurcated Market

The addition of five rare-earth products materially changes the Elk Creek Project’s revenue profile. Based on the 2026 Feasibility Study assumptions, no single product category is expected to account for more than 39% of revenue. This broader product mix gives the Elk Creek Project exposure to multiple critical-mineral markets, reduces its dependence on the pricing of any one product, and provides greater resilience against volatility or disruption in any single market.

Figure 1: Gross Revenue Breakdown (2022 Feasibility Study vs. 2026 Feasibility Study)

Figure 2:  Gross Revenue, OPEX, and Gross Margin per Ton (2022 Feasibility Study vs. 2026 Feasibility Study)

The markets and pricing for scandium and the rare-earth products to be produced at the Elk Creek Project have become increasingly bifurcated between China and the rest of the world. China dominates global production and processing of these materials, but export restrictions on scandium and several heavy rare earths have constrained the availability of Chinese material to customers outside the country, contributing to materially higher prices in non-China markets. At the same time, demand is expanding across several high-growth sectors. For example, scandium is used in solid oxide fuel cells, which are increasingly being deployed to provide reliable, on-site power for energy-intensive artificial intelligence data centers, while neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium are essential to the high-performance permanent magnets used in critical defense systems, electric vehicles, advanced automation, and robotics. Because the Elk Creek Project is expected to produce these materials in the United States for customers seeking a secure supply outside China, the economic model prepared for the 2026 Feasibility Study reflects pricing in the non-China markets that the Elk Creek Project is designed to serve.

Such pricing projections are based on assumptions and are subject to various risks described in the 2026 Technical Report, including, but not limited to, risks that anticipated demand drivers for scandium relating to artificial intelligence are not sustainable, international trade restrictions resulting in pricing bifurcation between China and the rest of the world relax, or that supply of such products increases from other sources.

Refined Mineral Processing Strategy Features Substantial Upgrades and Improvements

The 2026 Technical Report incorporates 12 years of engineering, metallurgical testing and mine-planning work across the Elk Creek Project. The updated design improves processing efficiency and yield, reduces reagent requirements, simplifies access to the underground mine, and supports greater electrification of the project’s operations.

The redesigned production process adds calcination and ammonium chloride leaching ahead of the acid-leach stage, removing a substantial portion of acid-consuming species in the ore ahead of the introduction of mineral acid and thus reducing reagent consumption throughout the circuit. The updated design also eliminates the dedicated sulfuric acid plant contemplated in the 2022 Feasibility Study and instead uses on-site acid neutralization for sulfuric acid and hydrochloric acid regeneration to recover and reuse reagents.

Ongoing construction of the mine portal is establishing the future access point to the Elk Creek Project underground operations. From the mine portal, twin ramps will provide access from the surface to the ore body, replacing the twin shafts contemplated in the 2022 Feasibility Study and enabling the use of the Railveyor™ system for ore movement and electric underground haulage. NioCorp also plans to develop an on-site, behind-the-meter microgrid to supply a majority of the Elk Creek Project’s electricity, eliminating reliance on the regional grid, and providing a reliable source of power over the operating life. Together, these changes are expected to improve project execution and operating efficiency.

Figure 3: 2026 Elk Creek Project Underground Mine Design (Cross Section View)

Updated Mineral Reserves Support a Long-Life Operation

The 2026 Technical Report establishes a larger and higher-confidence Mineral Reserve that supports a long-life operation at Elk Creek. As of April 2, 2026, the Elk Creek Mineral Reserve totals 45.9 million tons, comprising 7.6 million tons of Proven and 38.4 million tons of Probable Mineral Reserves. The 2026 estimate introduces a Proven Mineral Reserve for the first time, and for the first time includes rare earth elements in the Reserve, supporting the project’s expanded suite of eight critical mineral products. The Reserve now supports a mine life of 40 years.

Table 2: Underground Mineral Reserves Estimate for Elk Creek, Effective Date April 2, 2026

The updated 2026 Mineral Resource estimate introduces a Measured category of 21.7 million tons, reports Indicated Mineral Resources of 187.4 million tons, and reports Inferred Mineral Resources of 169.2 million tons. The growth in the Mineral Resource, driven by additional drilling completed in 2025, suggests exploration and expansion potential that is not included in the current mine plan or economic analysis.

Table 3: Elk Creek Mineral Resource Estimate – Effective January 9, 2026

Potential for EXIM Financing Support

NioCorp continues to work with EXIM to advance the Elk Creek Project through EXIM’s due diligence and loan application process. The completion of the 2026 Feasibility Study satisfies a key EXIM due diligence requirement reflected in the preliminary project letter that the Company received from EXIM in April 2024, and the Company now expects to advance to the next steps of the process relating to detailed engineering, procurement and construction contracting. The PPL included an indicative term sheet, which left open the total estimated amount of EXIM bank support and provided that the amount of EXIM financing that could be made available for the Elk Creek Project will be scaled based on the number of U.S. jobs supported, both during construction and over the life of EXIM’s financing, subject to certain expectations regarding the ratio of debt-to-equity financing for the Elk Creek Project. The Company believes that the updated 2026 Feasibility Study, with its updated economic model, Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve estimates, and increased job creation projections, demonstrates that the Elk Creek Project satisfies the criteria for increased EXIM financing as contemplated by the PPL. However, NioCorp is currently unable to estimate the total amount of EXIM financing, if any, as well as how long the application process, including additional project activities identified by EXIM, may take, and there can be no assurances that NioCorp will be able to successfully negotiate a final commitment of debt financing from EXIM, on acceptable terms, or at all.