NioCorp Plans to Investigate Rare Earth Permanent Magnet Recycling
CENTENNIAL, Colorado – April 18, 2024 – NioCorp Developments Ltd. (“NioCorp” or the ”Company”) (Nasdaq:NB) (TSX:NB) plans to investigate the feasibility of recycling permanent rare earth magnets as part of NioCorp’s proposed Elk Creek Critical Minerals Project (the “Elk Creek Project”) in southeast Nebraska.
NioCorp plans to examine the technical and commercial feasibility of recycling post-consumer neodymium-iron-boron permanent rare earth magnets (“NdFeB magnets“) back into separated rare earth oxides that can be used to make new NdFeB magnets. The research is expected to focus first on bench-scale testing and, depending upon results, possibly moving to demonstration-scale testing. This investigation is expected to be conducted separately from the Company’s ongoing work to update its Elk Creek Project Feasibility Study.
Once launched, the R&D program will focus on determining efficient processes to de-magnetize, prepare, and grind down used magnets into a feedstock that can then be converted by NioCorp in its planned Elk Creek Project chemical process back into separated rare earth products.
“We are really excited to explore the possibilities of recycling used permanent rare earth magnets and maximize the circular economics of using these magnets across a wide variety of energy efficient platforms, including electric and hybrid vehicles,” said Mark A. Smith, CEO and Executive Chairman of NioCorp. “Recycling post-consumer rare earth magnets adds to the strategic value of the particular critical minerals processing approach we intend to deploy in Nebraska.”
Scott Honan, NioCorp’s Chief Operating Officer, added: “The process flow sheet that we have designed for the Elk Creek Project may be able to recycle rare earth magnets with virtually no changes to its current configuration, other than to expand the facility’s rare earth separations capacity at the end of the process. That would make for an efficient and relatively rapid solution to establishing a robust magnet recycling capacity in the U.S.”
Mr. Honan added: “Rare earth permanent magnets come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes and formulations, which makes direct recycling very challenging. These magnets are inherently brittle and are typically coated with other metals to prevent corrosion. It is difficult, if not impossible, to separate the magnet from its coating, and the coatings can make reprocessing challenging and costly. However, we believe the Elk Creek process can take the magnet and the coatings at a coarse particle size, separate the magnetic rare earth elements from the coating materials, and deliver high purity, fully separated oxides at a very high recovery rate.”
If NdFeB magnet recycling feasibility is successfully demonstrated through this program, and if NioCorp receives sufficient project financing to construct its planned Elk Creek Project facility, NioCorp may be able to increase its planned production of neodymium-praseodymium oxide, dysprosium oxide, and terbium oxide beyond what may be contained in the Elk Creek ore body. As no economic analysis has been completed on the rare earth mineral resource comprising the Elk Creek Project, further studies are required before determining whether extraction of rare earth elements can be reasonably justified and is economically viable after taking account of all relevant factors.
Qualified Persons:
Scott Honan, M.Sc., SME-RM, COO of NioCorp Developments Ltd., a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical information and verified the data contained in this news release.
