NewsA company moves closer to raising $1.1B for its mine project
A mining company in southeast Nebraska is looking to produce rare elements. It has raised funds to help it reach its goal of $1.1 billion to build the mine that has been planned for decades.
A mining company in southeast Nebraska is looking to produce rare elements. It has raised funds to help it reach its goal of $1.1 billion to build the mine that has been planned for decades.
A mining company, which wants to extract rare elements from the ground beneath southeast Nebraska, raised funds Wednesday to help it reach its goal of $1.1 billion to build the mine that has been in development for decades.
According to a regulatory filing, the shareholders of GX Acquisition Corp. II, a special purpose acquisition company, overwhelmingly approved merging their company with NioCorp. NioCorp is a Centennial-based mining company. The company stated that the deal will bring in approximately $15 million to NioCorp.
GXII deals involve one of the many risky shell companies that were once very popular on Wall Street. Many of these companies had to be liquidated before they could complete any deal. SPACs, as they're known, are companies that were created to merge with other businesses to invest in them.
The company plans to build a mine about 80 miles (130 km) south of Omaha, near Elk Creek. It could receive an even larger boost later in the year. Recently, the Export-Import Bank of the United States issued a formal "letter of intent" indicating that NioCorp could be eligible for financing up to $800 millions. After a thorough review of the project by the bank, NioCorp will have enough cash to construct the mine.
The bank will first have to review the project for at least six to nine month. Although the Export-Import Bank letter is a preliminary step in the process, officials at NioCorp are extremely optimistic.
NioCorp has raised over $80 million to explore the site since 2013. However, the development of the project dates back as far as the 1970s when samples were first drilled by a different company. If it is built, the proposed mine will create more than 400 jobs.
NioCorp intends to produce niobium which is a heat-resistant element that is used to make steel lighter, stronger and lighter. The mine could also produce scandium, which can be used to strengthen aluminum and titanium, which would be used in paint production. According to the company, samples taken from the site have shown that there are significant amounts of rare earth elements that are used in high-tech products primarily made in China. It's not clear if it will be economically feasible for the rare earth elements President Joe Biden would like to see produced more domestically.
The bank's letter to NioCorp was the first to be given to a U. S.-based project since the Export-Import Bank voted last year, in response to a Biden executive directive, to increase funding for domestic projects that are proposed by companies looking to export their products. A spokeswoman for the bank said NioCorp is in an industry that the bank is eagerly supporting because so few vital minerals are produced in the United States.
Officials at NioCorp claim that getting funding from the bank would help level the playing fields with Chinese companies who are heavily subsidized. Although the Export-Import Bank will likely offer better terms than commercial bank, NioCorp continues to meet with other banks.
