Aerospace Critical Minerals

Niobium, Scandium, and Titanium — critical and strategic minerals that NioCorp plans to produce in Nebraska — are all critical to a number of aerospace technologies and platforms.  Virtually every commercial jetliner, and military aircraft, flying today utilizes alloys made with Niobium and Titanium.  In fact, according to Niobium market leader CBMM, the most common jet engine in service today contains about 300 kilograms of niobium. 

Helicopters, drones, satellites and a host of other aerospace technologies would not fly without one or more of these strategic metals.

When sufficient and reliable supplies of Scandium come online, that metal offers truly revolutionary benefits to aerospace, and to commercial aviation in particular. For example, an independent analysis by OnG Commodities LLC shows the following:

• Scandium-contained aluminum alloys can save airline operators approximately $9 million in net present value for a single B737-sized jetliner, assuming Scandium oxide pricing at $3,500/kg.  This represents an 11:1 cost-savings ratio for the airlines, and assumes B737 flying 3,250 hours per year, using American Airlines’ cost of capital, U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA) projections for future fuel price inflation, Scandium Trioxide (Sc₂O₃) at a price of $3,500/kg, and an average 0.7% by weight scandium doping level.    
• For commercial aircraft manufacturers, AlSc alloys allow aluminum components to be welded instead of joined via hundreds of thousands of rivets per plane. For manufacturers, this could amount to tens of millions of dollars/year in lower materials costs and direct manufacturing costs and a higher manufacturing throughput.  A 1% increase in annual production of a narrow body jet is worth approximately $500 million in added revenue to an commercial aircraft manufacturer.

Aerospace Applications That Utilize NioCorp’s Planned Products