NioCorp Developments Ltd (NB)

I asked Google Gemini about Stable Coins
Just heard about it on the news.
A StableCoin is attached to a real dollar. Just approved for USA use.

I wonder if NioCorp can first make sense of it, and perhaps use it.
ESG, Blockchain Tracking mine to customer. Etc

My Q

How can stable coins be used to build a critical mineral mine?

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Gemini Answer

Stablecoins, while not directly involved in the physical "mining" of cryptocurrencies, can play a significant role in financing and managing critical mineral mine operations in several ways. Here's a breakdown:

1. Investment and Fundraising:

Fractional Ownership and Tokenization: A mine, or a portion of it, can be tokenized into digital assets represented by stablecoins. This allows for fractional ownership, making it easier for a wider range of investors (both institutional and retail) to participate in funding. This can lower the barrier to entry for investing in large-scale mining projects, potentially increasing liquidity and access to capital.

Faster and More Efficient Capital Raising: Traditional mining finance can be slow and involve many intermediaries. Stablecoins, leveraging blockchain technology, can facilitate faster and more transparent fundraising rounds, potentially reducing transaction costs and time.


Global Accessibility: Stablecoins can easily cross borders, enabling a global investor base to contribute to mining projects without complex international banking transfers. This can be particularly useful for mines in developing regions where access to traditional finance might be limited.

Direct Investment from Crypto Holders: Individuals and entities holding large amounts of stablecoins (e.g., from profits in the crypto market) might be looking for stable, real-world assets to invest in. A well-structured tokenized mining project could be an attractive option.

2. Supply Chain Finance and Payments:

Transparent and Efficient Payments: Stablecoins can be used for payments throughout the mining supply chain, from purchasing equipment and paying suppliers to managing salaries. This can offer greater transparency and efficiency compared to traditional bank transfers, especially for international transactions.

Smart Contracts for Automated Payments: Smart contracts, often integrated with stablecoins, can automate payments based on predefined conditions (e.g., delivery of minerals, achievement of production targets). This can reduce disputes, improve efficiency, and ensure timely payments.

Traceability and Provenance: While not solely reliant on stablecoins, blockchain technology (which stablecoins operate on) can be used to track critical minerals from the mine to the end customer. This enhances transparency and can help ensure ethical sourcing and compliance with regulations.

3. Hedging and Risk Management:

Currency Stability: Mining operations often involve significant international transactions, exposing them to currency fluctuations. Using stablecoins pegged to major fiat currencies (like USD-backed stablecoins) can help mitigate currency risk and provide more predictable financial planning.


Collateral and Lending: Stablecoins can be used as collateral for loans, potentially offering more flexible and accessible financing options for mining companies. This could be particularly relevant for short-term operational needs.

4. Community Engagement and Impact Investing:

Direct Benefit Sharing: For projects focused on sustainable and responsible mining, stablecoins could be used to distribute a portion of profits directly to local communities, with the transactions being transparently recorded on a blockchain.

ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Tracking: Blockchain can be used to track and verify ESG metrics related to mining operations. Stablecoins could be linked to incentives for achieving specific ESG goals, further attracting impact investors.

Challenges and Considerations:

Regulatory Landscape: The regulatory environment for stablecoins and tokenized assets is still evolving. Mining companies and investors need to navigate these regulations carefully.

Security and Custody: Safeguarding stablecoin holdings and managing the associated blockchain infrastructure requires robust security measures.

Adoption and Liquidity: While stablecoins are gaining traction, their widespread adoption in the traditional mining industry is still in its early stages. Sufficient liquidity in the tokenized assets would be crucial.

Due Diligence and Trust: Even with blockchain transparency, thorough due diligence on the underlying mining project, management team, and geological assessments remains paramount for investors.

In summary, stablecoins, in conjunction with broader blockchain adoption, offer innovative avenues for financing, managing, and increasing transparency in critical mineral mine development by providing a stable, efficient, and globally accessible digital financial rail.

I mentioned Scandium Silicon alloys here before, left out to say US or allied not yet produced such yet, but believe strongly US soon could catch up through lab research.

From my readings US made hypersonic stealth aircrafts, missiles———their flying speeds are behind others. The fastest could reach 7.5 times of sound speed. I assume the information is not fake.

Military applications of future Elk Creek project’s products are my most interested.

I meant to type DOD, Department of Defense.

Missteps of the CEO, in my opinion, was very late in realizations NB needed governmental funding help.

There are many foreign companies got DOE funds, why not own domestic rare earths company?

The $45 million public offering of NioCorp Developments Ltd. (NB) shares is a critical step toward transitioning the Elk Creek Critical Minerals Project from a promising concept to active mobilization and construction. There is optimism that potential Department of Defense (DoD) involvement could mirror the scale of their investment in MP Materials, which included a $400 million equity stake and an additional $150 million for a processing plant, significantly boosting NioCorp’s project advancement.

One would think a company like IBC would have had at least something happen in light of all of this. It is absolutely silent. I hope I can pull those sorry long shares out of the deep red someday also. This gets going and then acquires them? We eat them, bigger fish eats both?

Shorting this stock at this point would be dumber than investing in it for the past 10 years. I’ve been pretty stupid for pouring money into this for 10 years, but even I’m not that stupid!!! I want to see this project flourish and the current Niocorp mismanagement team replaced. It’s already on my list to Santa 🎅

Hmmm

We seem to be the Bridesmaid but never the Bride. MP is getting financial help (IMHO) because they are digging some low quality ore and are in operation. Others are getting some interest because they seem to have a lower cost, shorter time line, or are further on in trying to process the ore. We seem to have lots of words but no financial return for the words.

Maybe it is time to turn this project into two projects:

#1 A mine. Continue doing what we are doing and fund and build a mine.

#2 A processing plant. Raise money and build the processing plant that the work in Canada supposedly has shown to have high element yields (has that every been officially reported?) and our process can separate the critical metals and each REE element/metal. Since reportedly the process starts by putting everything into solution we could start processing other companies ore like the Chinese are doing.

Something to seriously think about IMHO.

If it turns out to be true, next week NB will be in $10.

Maybe it’s the Pentagon who bought our shares?-eom

Any chance NioCorp might be one of the companies mentioned in this article?

https://www.reuters.com/world/china/pentagon-keep-working-with-us-rare-earths-projects-us-defense-official-says-2025-07-15/

I do not think Shorts would dare to short NB down from here, if they do those shares will be quickly pick up by anyone wish to add shares cheap.

Things are looking good! Our patience will be rewarded.

Let's see some land purchasing and infrastructure investments

It did end today NioCorp has the money. And the 18th date was in the first news release where we were down 80 cents yesterday.

My guess : This time the dilution not given warrants in the package.

My NIOBW is getting larger green # on the paper.

Didn't one of the AI summaries below discuss how this financing was going to end today, July 18? I swear I remember reading that so clearly someone knows the specifics and it can be found online.

I’ve said it before and I’ll day it again. I have not lost faith in this project, I have lost faith in the Niocorp Mismanagement team. I am still in the red and will not be cashing out until I’m in the black. I don’t have the extra money to bring my average cost average down much. I loaded up with the promise of financing being imminent 5 years ago. We all know that was a lie. I’m holding out for the possibility of a company buyout and overhaul of management 🤞

Yes, it was. One or two parties most likely negotiated terms directly with Niocorp and they had Maxim do the public offering.

I have been it this stock for over ten years. I understand your frustration and disappointment. Always best to cash out and move on if you have lost faith. I have done it on more investments than I care to admit.

I think last fall was a great time to dollar cost average down.

Nothing ever goes as smoothly as we wish. Hopefully, things will work out for everyone.

I currently like our chances.

I think this was already pre-arranged. The deal was already set. Niocorp could not have raised 45 millions in only two days going to the market at best effort price.
I expect things to start moving ahead.
Lard

There’s nothing to argue. It doesn’t matter how you keep trying to make it seem like rainbows and unicorns. 🌈 🦄 Either way you math it out, the result is the SAME.

My MO is to bring accountability to Niocorp management’s incompetence over the past few years. I want competent management at the helm. The real winners here will be the new institutional investors and the handful of new retail investors. No matter how you spin the numbers, if we were to hit $50, it is only equivalent to $5 for the legacy investors.

We all expected dilution, but Mark and his team have managed to destroy the legacy investor’s equity in the company. That’s an undisputed FACT. Since I began investing in Niocorp, Mark has managed to add nearly 400% more shares AND we haven’t even reached the primary equity portion of what we will need to raise the other $350 million. The past three years have revealed the deep incompetence of the Niocorp management team.

I would agree. I believe it's private equity.

Private equity firms generally do not report as institutional buyers in the same way that traditional institutional investors, like mutual funds or pension funds, do. The term "institutional buyer" or "institutional investor" typically refers to entities like banks, insurance companies, pension funds, or hedge funds that invest large pools of money on behalf of others and are subject to specific regulatory reporting requirements, such as filing Form 13F with the SEC if they manage over $100 million in certain securities.Private equity firms, however, primarily focus on acquiring controlling stakes in private companies or taking public companies private, often through leveraged buyouts, rather than trading in public securities markets like institutional investors. Their activities are less about managing portfolios of publicly traded securities and more about direct investments in private companies or assets. As such, they are not typically required to file the same public disclosures (e.g., Form 13F) unless they manage significant public securities portfolios that meet the SEC’s thresholds.

I don't think it was an institutional buyer last time, haven't seen an uptick in the percentage held by institutions to match it.

But on the other hand, they couldn't be sold or transferred in any way for 90 days, so maybe it wouldn't have registered yet.

Most likely same buyer. You buy the shares up to the 5% threshold, then the balance as warrants.

I don't know about today's closing, but for the one in April of 7.7 million shares sold only a little over 1 million were the prepaid warrants.

Since they are prepaid I don't see any reason why they would have an expiration date. They wouldn't be able to vote or sell on the open market. I see this as positive.

We will not know the buyer until their position is declared.

Thanks for that DD. Is there no time limit on exercising or revealing the warrants owners?
I understand they are already paid to exercise, but is there a time limit to reveal?

I assume we won’t know who invested if they are all considered paid warrants.

Let us note that the last two capital raises have consisted of prepaid warrants.
This happens when funds or private equity want to take a large position without declaring their holdings.

In this case, Niocorp gets the funds now, and they can execute the warrants once they wish to show their hand.

In the United States, you must declare your position in a public company when you acquire more than 5% of a voting class of its equity securities, as required by Section 13(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. You must file a Schedule 13D with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) within 10 days of crossing the 5% ownership threshold.

There is no way back … only forward. Congratulations Niocorp.

That was fast….
NioCorp Announces Closing of $45.0 Million Public Offering of Common Shares

CENTENNIAL, CO (July 18, 2025) -- NioCorp Developments Ltd. ("NioCorp" or the "Company") (NASDAQ:NB) today announced the closing of its previously announced public offering in the United States (the “Offering”). The Offering consisted of 13,850,000 common shares in the capital of the Company (“Common Shares”) at a public offering price of $3.25 per Common Share, for gross proceeds of approximately $45.0 million before deducting placement agent fees and offering expenses.

Thanks Walter. That makes sense. And yes, Niocorp's market cap should exceed MP materials by a good margin once operational and if some of the same floor pricing mitigation and off takes are provided by the government.

I won't argue with you as I know your M.O. on this board. The last thing I'll say is this: I don't disagree with the reduction in number of shares owned, along with the devaluation of those shares the resulted from the reverse split; I said as much in the original post.

However, there is a vast difference in having close to a billion + shares outstanding after all is said and done, as opposed to 200M

Bingo!
But he added that if they had the opportunity they would start some pre -construction work so that once Exim approved they could start construction .
This is what I believe this funding will be used for.

Oh please, there’s absolutely NOTHING disingenuous about that! It’s simple fuc*ing math. The reverse split reduced our shares 1/10. Regardless of how you WANT to frame it in your head.

The 42 million shares today at $3.25 is the SAME as 420 million shares at 32.5 cents before we were handed to the wolves! Every single investor would have lost their shit if Mark had done an equity financing of $45 million at 32.5 cents!

Even when were over $1.00 ($10 post merger), most investors would have not been elated with that either. I don’t give a shit how you like to spin it, the math is there!!! I don’t want this project to fail. I want management and the BOD removed before they fu*k the potential of this project up anymore!!!

Mark Smith never fails to disappoint 💸

In one of the presentations (in Antwerp?) Mark indeed said that there was sufficient money (about 20 million in cash plus 10 million to be received from DoD)to complete the FS and get the Exim approval.But he added that if they had the opportunity they would start some pre -construction work so that once Exim approved they could start construction .
This is what I believe this funding will be used for.
Late last year we were financing at 1,57 plus warrants. Now we are financing at 3.25.no warrants so 355M to go and that will most probably be after Exim approval.

About dilution. Does anybody can explain me why our Market cap should be lower than MP material once weare operational.

I don’t expect to lose money for shares bought yesterday and today. We will see next week.

NB will catch up MP price someday, I will finally retire for good.

The timing depends often on multiple reasons, One big consideration is the other party. Who is willing to commit 45 mio and at what price?

https://www.exim.gov/thought-leadership/critical-minerals-critical-moment

Anyone????

Does the volume or price with NIOBW warrants tell us anything....just asking

I 100% agree with you there, Stark. That thinking is similar to mine, which is why I asked the to Walter on this board a little while ago. Not sure I understand the timing of such a large raise, as it seems like there would be a better situation, if we are as close as we think we are, to raise capital at a more advantageous price point.

Not disagreeing with you there, Putz, which is why I called it out in my post.

I was one of those, like you, who saw their position get wiped out and shrunk down to a now paltry number of shares (relatively) from what it once was.

I'm not giving management a free pass for some bad decisions, merely just stating that someone can't say 420M shares outstanding would be the same as 42M just because it raised the same amount of money.

A new REE trade that has copycat potential

https://investorplace.com/2025/07/fed-uncertainty-soft-inflation-and-a-700-winner/

Yesterday, Jonathan sent a new All-Access Bonus Trade Alert to his Masters in Trading All Access subscribers.

He was kind enough to let me share the name with our broad Digest file. But let me clarify: if you decide to trade this stock, be smart – don’t overextend yourself.

Jonathan is recommending that his subscribers place a specific, risk-defined trade. And that’s the hallmark of pro traders: risk mitigation.

With that said, here’s Jonathan:

NioCorp Developments Ltd. ($NB) is another rare earth minerals company sitting at the heart of something big.

They’re advancing a critical minerals project in Nebraska — just like we’ve seen with MP and TMC, demand for them is spiking in defense, energy, and the AI boom.

The U.S. wants to secure supply onshore, and that puts companies like NioCorp in the spotlight.

If you’re looking for what could be the market’s next major overnight winner, consider yourself in the loop. We’ll circle back on how this plays out.

12 years was wiped out. There is no getting around that.
What I got for holding for 12 years was listening and learning about pumpers and bashers working together, to feed lies.

My shares Nov 24 were worth what I purchased them for in 2012.
400,000 shares wiped out and given to crooks, because money pools form, when money pools form. Said the expert with imminent financing and unlimited excuses.

Oh, by the way, we used to be called quantum rare earth for a reason, says the REE king who forgot about that half of our project.

Why he is still running the show is beyond me.
.

My recollection was that the previous raise was enough to cover drilling and FS. Not sure if it was mentioned if it would also cover salaries, operating expenses etc. The new raise pads the coffers for future expenses as well. I just hope some or a great part of that is used to start building structures at the site in anticipation of go ahead by EXIM. A good question for JS: How will these new funds be utilized?

However, had the shelf been accessed when the share price was much higher there would have been much less dilution to raise the same amount of money and we would have been able to do things we were not able to do until recently. We lost time and wasted money by not using the shelf early after the SPAC when the share price was $7-8.

Walter,
I have always respected your opinion, so I ask: what makes you feel this way? While it makes sense, I would have thought the company would have waited until drilling results have come in to capitalize on (hopefully) better news. They seemingly have enough money with the $31M to keep going until that time, without an additional $45M.

At the very least, I hope management gives an explanation for the raising of the $45M now since the canned "to continue operations" could mean a variety of things including paying salaries.

I am still very hopeful for this company's success, perhaps now more than ever, but some of the moves made make me scratch my head.

That's just a disingenuous assessment, and I think you know that. While the SPAC was a mess, and the result of it moreso, you cannot equate shares outstanding from a simple ratio, pre split to post split. At the end of the day 420 million shares is a lot more than 42 million shares.

I agree that the reverse split eroded value from existing shareholders, but it has been a new day since for the market and new investors.

There are enough things to criticize without the lies and inaccuracies, but I'm not sure why I expect something different from someone who has a vested interested in watching this fail, and a personal vendetta against the leadership.

Food for thought, Niocorp management has added 42 million (420 million pre split) shares since the GXII disaster. To put that into perspective, we were trading above $1.00 pre merger. If Niocorp management had issued 420 million shares at $1, we would had our $400 million in equity financing!!! Today, we will need at least another $350 million in equity financing. Let that sink now!!!

Niocorp management has destroyed the legacy investors holdings with their incompetence. These self proclaimed veteran mining businessmen have shown us that they are not capable of making a good deal. After over 10 years, I just hope I can get my money back, but we all know that Mark Smith never fails to disappoint.

I agree with Walter. This new share placement is part of the equity portion of the project and enables the company to get up and running in and do things in parallel instead of sequentially. Time is of the essence. First things first, the share price will follow. I am sure that yesterday’s volume was a signal that heavy hitters have entered the fray. I see that as a great sign of confidence in the project .