I looked around and this is what I found!
Rare earth mine In Development in Nebraska. The CEO was previously the CEO of Molycorp, which ran Mountain Pass. The Chinese lowered REE prices to the point where Molycorp could not complete, it went under, the chinese bought Mountain Pass and are sending the raw materials back to China to refine.
In this instance the mine will produce Niobium, Scandium, and Titanium, none of which the Chinese currently produce. They can’t go all Standard Oil and drive their competitors out of business and then buy the mine. At the same time they expect to find other REES besides their primary target.
They are 8 years into the project, have the plans, have the permits, are finalizing financing. NIOBF.
“In a joint project with IBC Advanced Alloys, NioCorp announced in October the successful production of an aluminum-scandium master alloy. NioCorp and IBC intend to utilize the master alloy from this program to further the companies’ ongoing efforts to develop specialty scandium containing alloys and/or prototype products for potential commercial use. This agreement is to investigate and develop applications for scandium-containing materials for a range of downstream markets.In a joint project with IBC Advanced Alloys, NioCorp announced in October the successful production of an aluminum-scandium master alloy. NioCorp and IBC intend to utilize the master alloy from this program to further the companies’ ongoing efforts to develop specialty scandium containing alloys and/or prototype products for potential commercial use. This agreement is to investigate and develop applications for scandium-containing materials for a range of downstream markets.”