Aug 5 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Defense has awarded $10 million to Elk Creek Resources to help develop a scandium supply chain, it said on Tuesday, as Washington looks to reduce reliance on China for critical minerals.
The funding for the NioCorp Developments NB.O unit, under the Defense Production Act, will support engineering, drilling and feasibility studies at the Elk Creek project in Nebraska.
Shares of NioCorp were up 4.8% in premarket trade.
The U.S. has not mined scandium since 1969. Most of the global supply comes from China, Russia and Ukraine.
The project is part of broader efforts to reduce U.S. reliance on China and other foreign suppliers of critical minerals, in line with a 2025 executive order by President Donald Trump to boost domestic production.
In early July, MP Materials MP.N unveiled a multibillion-dollar deal with the U.S. government to boost output of rare earth magnets and help loosen China's grip on the materials used to build weapons, electric vehicles and many electronics.
Scandium is prized for making lightweight, high-strength alloys used in aircraft, hypersonic weapons and energy platforms.
(Reporting by Katha Kalia in Bengaluru; Editing by Sahal Muhammed)
((Katha.Kalia@thomsonreuters.com;))
免责声明：投资有风险，本文并非投资建议，以上内容不应被视为任何金融产品的购买或出售要约、建议或邀请，作者或其他用户的任何相关讨论、评论或帖子也不应被视为此类内容。本文仅供一般参考，不考虑您的个人投资目标、财务状况或需求。TTM对信息的准确性和完整性不承担任何责任或保证，投资者应自行研究并在投资前寻求专业建议。