Transcription
Hello everybody and welcome into Commodity Culture, where our goal is to make you a better investor in the commodity sector. My name is Jesse Day.
Before we dive in, standard disclaimer: nothing here is investment advice. Do your own due diligence. Today is December 1st, 2025, and my guest is the CEO of Niop, a company developing the Elk Creek project in Nebraska that is expected to produce niobium, scandium, and titanium. Mark Smith, it is great to have you on the show.
Thank you, Jesse. Absolute pleasure to be here.
Well, great to have you here. And I want to start the conversation by homing in on the niobium, uh, question and why it is so critical. So, why don't you start by laying out for us, what are the main use cases for niobium and why is this a metal that investors should be paying attention to?
I'm going to reverse that a little bit, Jesse, just because I think, you [clears throat] know, pointing out how how critical this metal is to the United States is is just just top-of-the-line order here. And and and it's it's really critical. The the White House, uh, in the summer asked the USGS, the US Geological Service, to do an analysis on all of the critical and strategic minerals for the United States. And they did that. And in August, they issued their report. And that report came out and and it actually listed niobium as the number two most critical element for the United States. And the rationale behind that was that we import 100% of the niobium that we need in the United States today, 100%. And if we can't get those imports of niobium into the United States, that could cause greater than $10 billion of impact, negative impact to the GDP for this country. That made it the number two most critical element, uh, in in the United States in terms of critical strategic minerals.
Now, now I get into the the really fun part because, um, I've been in niobium for probably over 25 years now. And I love niobium. Niobium is one of those elements that when I look around in the world today, it's ubiquitous. And nobody even knows, you know, how to how to pronounce it, much less that it exists. And and niobium is is in almost everything that we see in the world today. So when I travel around the world and and I fly into cities, I look for cranes because if you see a lot of cranes and they're building, you know, big massive, uh, you know, multi-story, uh, towers out there, that means that they're using niobium-based steel. And and that means that that anything over two stories basically has to have niobium strength added to the steel to give it the seismic strength that it needs. It it it provides a yield strength increaser for steel.
When I take a look at out in the parking lot here and I see all the the steel-based cars that are out in the parking lot, those are all, they they all are using high-strength low-alloy steel, which is a niobium-alloyed steel. And they do that because when you add niobium to steel, it increases the yield strength. It lowers the weight of the resulting metal. It's highly, highly corrosion-resistant. Very temperature, uh, has a wide span of temperature capabilities. Uh, it's it it's just one of those miracle little alloying elements. And when I say little alloying elements, I say that because one pound of niobium added to 2,000 lbs of steel doubles the yield strength of that steel.
So I've talked [clears throat] about, you know, niobium and steel. That's where, you know, kind of about 90% of the niobium, uh, that's produced in the world today goes into those high-strength low-alloy steels. But there's multiple other uses as well. And and I could talk about multiple other uses, but what I'd rather do is to talk about an up-and-coming use of niobium that's probably going to increase the the demand by over 50% of what today's demand level is. And that's a new, what's called a niobium-lithium-ion solid-state battery. These batteries will be used in cars and trucks and and automobiles and motorcycles. And and this is like the holy grail of of the EV world in terms of batteries. And and why is that? Well, first of all, the battery itself ends [clears throat] up providing a much longer range, uh, more miles, uh, per charge, uh, out of the battery. So, that's a very good thing. You can get four or 500 miles, uh, out of each charge on the battery. Even more importantly, you can charge that that battery in about six minutes. So, this almost kind of brings us into the internal combustion engine world where we stop in a gas station, we fill up our gas tanks, five, seven minutes, and we're done and and we're on our way. Well, that's the way that it's going to be with with EVs as well, once these new batteries are adopted. And that's a combination of the largest, uh, niobium producing company in the world and Toshiba, a a very well-known Japanese electronics company. So this is a serious new technology that's coming out. They're advertising all of the benefits of this battery. And the largest, uh, niobium producing company in the world has actually announced that they're going to increase the production at their facility by 50,000 tons per year. That's that's in a total world market of 100,000 tons per per year right now. So you can see that they really think that this new technology for batteries is going to take off and it's going to provide, you know, double-digit growth in terms of annual, uh, increases in demand for this mineral. So, is niobium an exciting place? I I think it is. Really.
Great overview. Now, securing a domestic source of critical minerals has been a top priority for the Trump administration and for good reason, because China has quite a dominance when it comes to supply chains. Sometimes it's production, sometimes it's processing, it can also be both. But talk to us about that the current dominance that China has when it comes to rare earths to critical minerals. And do you think the US can even the playing field when it comes to producing some of those critical minerals like niobium?
Absolutely. And and and Jesse, again, I'm going to kind of reverse the order of your questions and say, you know, answer: can the United States, um, you know, address this issue in in a meaningful way? And and and first answer: absolutely yes. There's no question we can. The the issue is over what period of time does that need to happen? Because you you don't start a new mining operation, you know, just like that. You don't build a massive mineral production facility or mineral processing facility overnight. These things take time. And the Elk Creek project, as an example, we have all of our permits in place. So, we're very unique in the United States, uh, mining industry from that standpoint. We're not in that that permitting quagmire where you you take decades to get through all the legal and and other, you know, you know, morass trying to get your just the permits to to do something. We have our permits, so we can we can start as soon as our financing is done. And at some point in the interview, we'll talk about where we are in financing, but we're getting very close. Once we get the financing finished, it's a three-year construction effort to build an underground mine, to build an above above-ground processing facility. But it's three years. And we're one of the shortest, you know, companies in terms of start to finish to to actually be able to produce these minerals. So, we have to do something in the meantime. I think stockpiling is is a great idea. And the United States military right now, as an example, is is doing some wonderful things on stockpiling. So we're we're seeing, you know, the smart things being done. But stockpiling isn't necessarily the perfect answer because when you have one country that that produces 100% of something, it's a little bit hard to stockpile when you can't buy what what they have to sell. They just won't sell you the material. So, we're going to have to figure out, you know, different ways, recycling, uh, you know, going going and finding these minerals somewhere else. In in in the near term, we've got to do something for this near term. But we absolutely as a country can onshore these activities, the mining, the processing, the full supply chain. We can onshore those activities. And so, we do have the answer. We just need a little bit of time to to get there.
Now, in in terms of, uh, you know, China and and their their dominance in these areas, first of all, compliments to China. They they haven't done this overnight either. They've been undertaking these activities for 40, 50, 60 years. They're committed. They stick to it. They put tons and tons of money into these things. So, you know, on on rare earth and scandium, two of the products that that Niop will be producing from its mine in Nebraska, you know, almost almost 100% of the scandium comes out of China today. So we have to do something about not just producing scandium, but we have to onshore the full supply chain of scandium. Scandium by itself doesn't do a whole lot, but when you alloy scandium with aluminum, much like niobium with steel, it does wonderful things. Which increases the yield strength of that aluminum, lowers the weight of the overall metal that you're using at the end of the day. Corrosion resistance, you can weld it. So these are fantastic things, but we have zero production of scandium today in the United States. We can't make scandium metal in the United States. We can't make scandium-aluminum alloys in the United States today. So these are things that we need to onshore and make sure that we have available. Now, just a minor point there, too, is that there is production of scandium out of the Philippines, but it's 100% sold, uh, to Bloom Energy in California. And so, it's not really viewed as something that's available on the market today. If if you want to go out and buy scandium, you can't buy what the Philippines is producing, about seven tons a year. You have to to place an order out of China. And of course, China put, uh, export, uh, restrictions on scandium in April of 2025. So you can't buy it today. But again, that's just the scandium. You need the full supply chain for scandium. Rare earth, we all know that China produces 90-plus percent of the rare earths in the world today, largely because of their processing capabilities. And and on the heavy rare earths, which they put restrictions on exports in April of this year, uh, they produce 100% of those. So, what do we what do we do in the meantime while we're waiting for a a facility like, uh, the the the Niop mine to get up and and and start running? We will produce heavy rare earths, but again, three years from the time that we we start or finish our our project financing before we'll have those those metals.
Niobium is kind of an interesting one because if you take if you just take a look at the the top-level information on niobium, you would see that well over 90% of the niobium produced and sold in the world today comes out of Brazil and and a little bit, probably 5% or so, comes out of Canada. There's only three producing mines in the world. Take a take another step down into that information and you find out that China basically owns the Canadian operation, uh, that was a Hong Kong and a Singapore, uh, investment vehicle that went in and bought that mine. So, basically China runs that one. China also bought Chinese Molybdenum Corporation bought, uh, the another relatively small producer but important producer out of Brazil that Anglo-American sold to them. So that China owns, you know, the, you know, Canadian and the small producer in Brazil. And then China also owns 15% of CBMM, which is the largest producer in the world, probably produces 85 to 90% of the the niobium in the world today. China was smart many, many years ago. This is like 10, 12, 15 years ago that they made these investment in investments in niobium because they don't produce any niobium in country, but they know how important it is to their economy and to the world economy. And and as I just mentioned a moment ago, extremely important to the United States economy. If we don't, uh, have the capability of importing niobium, $10 billion-plus hit to the GDP every year. So again, they, if if you take an initial look at niobium, oh, it's just Brazil. No, it's not. China has already taken care of what they need for niobium and they've made those investments and they continue to be committed to those investments. So again, China, China, China. They they've really put their money where their mouth is and they are invested and fully committed to these critical and strategic minerals.
Well, the first slide in Niop's investor presentation highlights the fact that all the critical minerals you plan to produce are used in the F-35 Lightning II aircraft. Uh, that leads us to discussing the defense industry. Perhaps you could shed some light on the importance of niobium, scandium, and other minerals when it comes to the defense industry.
It is extremely important. And first of all, it's, you know, let's just start out with the magnetic rare earths, uh, because we'll be producing those at our Nebraska, uh, mine and and mineral processing facility. The the the magnetic rare earths are what you need in a full supply chain to make ultimately make rare earth permanent magnets, which are are critically important in in just about every everything the defense industry does. Um, you know, these these little magnets, uh, do things for the the military that, um, we don't even know half of what they use them in, uh, because we're not supposed to. But you can just imagine how important they are because they are the most efficient, most powerful magnets in the world. So, um, without those those rare earth elements coming in and being able to make rare earth permanent magnets, which largely go into rare earth permanent magnet motors, um, you [clears throat] can't you can't do things like fly an airplane. You can't have a missile that has a guidance system that's going to go anywhere. Instead of a smart, uh, smart missile, you end up with a dumb missile. You just fire it off and it goes wherever it goes. Um, you have to have these rare earth elements to to make all of these, uh, applications in the defense industry much smarter, much more efficient, and and and make them as lethal as they're supposed to be.
You look at scandium. Scandium is kind of a a newcomer in in the world of defense, and people in the defense industry are starting to figure out how important that is. And and just recently, Niop announced a joint development agreement with Lockheed Martin, uh, where they're utilizing a scandium-aluminum alloy. And and that scandium-aluminum alloy is going to allow the radar, the the threat detection system, I I call it radar, but when you're in the military, they call it threat detection system. That threat detection system with scandium-aluminum alloy is going to double the radius from the plane, uh, in terms of what the pilot can see and what they can be aware of. But it also, not the the current system only allows the radar system to go 180 degrees forward on the plane, whereas this new technology will be a 360-degree look at what's going on. And so the threat detection system is vastly improved, much greater, uh, radius and and total area that they're able to look at. And so it it makes our pilots much safer because they know what's going on around them. It also, um, and this is always one of those conversations that you can have with military people where you kind of open your eyes a little bit, but it also makes them more lethal, as as the military people like to talk. And and it makes them more lethal because they know where the, you know, their enemies are and they know much sooner and they can react and they can they can respond accordingly. And so this is going to take a generation five technology in the F-22 and F-35, turn it into a generation six technology, which is the the highest level that there is. And and we're going to not just do that with new and and and newly produced F-22s or F F-35s. We're going to retrofit all those F-22s and F-35s. So, this is going to be a a a huge benefit to the US military. Uh, we're very interested in it, not just because of, you know, making our pilots pilots safer and and more lethal, but it will result in offtakes for scandium, which is is a wonderful thing for Niop. And the military sees the advantage of of what scandium provides in multiple applications. I've just mentioned one, uh, and they're becoming more and more interested in scandium. The problem is, where do you where do you get that? Well, you get it from China today, and they aren't exporting anything for military purposes. So, we have to onshore these activities. And what you're going to see in in in Niop's, uh, business plan is that we don't just plan to produce scandium oxide. We plan [clears throat] to help our military and help our country by onshoring the full supply chain capabilities for scandium. So, we're going to make scandium oxide. We're going to we're going to make scandium metal. Matter of fact, we we should make our first scandium metal as Niop in February of 2026. Uh, we're going to be able to to make the scandium master alloy, which is about a anywhere [clears throat] from a 2 to 4% uh, scandium content with with aluminum. They you then take that master alloy, add it to more aluminum, and then you can make the actual alloy, scandium-aluminum alloy, that's used in the real world. And it's anywhere from a 0.1 to a 2% scandium content in that alloy. But we've demonstrated, uh, that we can make master alloy here in the United States. We've demonstrated that we can make the actual alloy, uh, by partnering with another company, IVC Advanced Alloys. We're just, we know we can do these things in the country. We just have to do them. So, um, you know, making the scandium in country and having the full supply chain here in country, it kind of takes care of that China issue, and and it goes away. Now, again, we have time. We have, we need three years in order to produce, uh, our scandium, but we're putting this whole supply chain together, and it's going to be available for us.
Niobium, again, we've talked about how important that is. Uh, and and in the industrial or or the military world, uh, niobium is is hugely important. Every every, uh, fighter jet that that goes up in the air utilizes niobium in one form or another. It may be ferro-niobium, or it may be niobium pentoxide, or niobium metal that they're using. And again, we import 100% of the niobium that we need in the country today. So this is huge. Hypersonic missiles are kind of the new thing in in the military. Uh, our military in the US has readily admitted that we are behind the Chinese in in the advancement of hypersonic missiles. So the the Trump administration, again, thank you, uh, for for seeing the need for these things and and taking action to to take care of the issue. Uh, they are putting a lot of money into the development of hypersonic missiles. That's a fantastic thing for niobium because you have to have niobium in order to make those hypersonic missiles be better than the Chinese. So, are these metals critical [clears throat] and and strategic? You bet they are. Not and it's not just from a military standpoint. It's also from a a US GDP standpoint. These metals make the world go. I mean, they they don't have the volumes that that iron or copper or or aluminum do, but the importance level, uh, is is is potentially even higher because of the little things that they provide and improve upon in terms of technologies. You can't get those unless you have those metals and those critical strategic metals produced in country with full supply chains in country.
Well, let's discuss how Niop fits into the picture. You've touched on some of your operations at this point, but I'd love if you could take a bit of a deeper dive and and give us an overview of the company for those who are unfamiliar.
Yeah, thank you, Jesse, for that opportunity. Um, Niop plans to, once our financing is complete, to build and construct an underground mine at the very southeast corner of Nebraska. And it will be an underground mine and an above-ground processing facility. Our above-ground processing facility will be able to take the ore from the underground mine, convert that into highly, uh, pure, purified oxides of each of these critical strategic minerals. And it's really unique in terms of this polymetallic, uh, mineral resource that we have because we're primarily there for niobium. But because of the polymetallic nature of this ore body, we can also produce scandium. We can produce titanium, and we can produce the magnetic rare earth minerals. And again, all of those products will be, we put into the final product form that is sold to the customer. We're not here to make concentrates, send it to China, and have them process it into the the purified forms of these materials. We will produce them into the purified forms. And the the other good news about our company is that we have people that have been in this business for multiple decades. We have people that have produced these minerals in their high, highly purified oxide forms. Um, so this isn't something new that we're experimenting with. This isn't a lab, uh, situation where we're hoping we're going to do it right. We know what we're going to do. We we have all, it's all well-known technologies to to get to that high purified, highly purified oxide form, and we have people that have done this for multiple decades in their career. So we have an excellent ore body. Our metallurgy, uh, has been demonstrated, uh, at full feasibility study level, including, you know, two or more weeks of full metallurgical processing with the full process operating all at the same time. Unbelievable metallurgy, I might add. I think Scott Hoden and our technical team have have taken the time to to get the highest quality data possible, and we have a metallurgical process here that I I think may be second to none in terms of recovery levels and the ability to produce four basic, you know, uh, uh, product streams from one mineral resource. So, uh, we have unbelievable community support, too. I just, I can't ignore that because it's something we're so proud of. Uh, we're going to have a town hall this coming Friday out in Elk Creek, Nebraska. We'll have 500 people attend the town hall. The governor is going to be there. The junior senator, uh, Pete Ricketts, is going to be there. The senior senator, Senator Fischer, is going to be there in by video because she has another another commitment, but she wants to participate in this, and so she's going to do it by video. How nice is that? Um, you know, we we're talking about full, just unbelievable support all the way to the governor of the state, and then the the federal senators as well. All the the Congress, uh, people in the state support this project. All of the local people support this project. We don't have one naysayer. We don't have one protester that shows up at these these meetings. They want this project, and they're going to have this project. So, you know, full permitting, great, uh, great ore body. Um, remember that the the ore body itself in our feasibility study talks about a 38-year mine life, which is is a pretty long mine life, if you think about it. That's only 10% of the total resource. So, this this mine could be here for literally hundreds of years serving this country and producing those critical strategic minerals. So, do we think it's important? Absolutely. We think it's important. Do we think that the White House thinks it's an important project? We we know they think it's an important project, and they're supporting it in in ways that we've just never seen before at the at the federal government level. So, we've got a lot of positive things going on right now. Uh, we've got a lot of our equity, uh, raised in terms of what we need for project financing right now. We're very, very close to being, uh, at the at the finish line with an EXIM loan. US Export-Import Bank of the United States. Uh, we've been working with them for two years and five months now. Um, and that's a long time to be working for it, but, you know, we want those decisions to be made by the US government using taxpayer money. We want those decisions to be very thorough, very well vetted, and make sure that the risk associated with that has been evaluated at at at the highest levels possible. So, has it taken a long time? Yes. But we we want it to be done right. But we're very, very close right now. We anticipate having full project financing, uh, sometime in calendar year 2026. I think it'll be sooner than what most people think it's going to be, but it's going to be in 2026. That means we start construction next year. That means that we'll have the mine up and running in 2029. And these critical strategic minerals, largely not even produced in the United States today, are going to be produced in the United States today. And that's a pretty exciting thing. We're going to serve the American public the way that that we should be serving the American public. We have the minerals onshore. Let's mine them. Let's process them. Let's do it in the best environmental and and health and safety way possible. And and and let's let's make sure that we are, you know, capable of of putting ourselves in a position where we're not 100% dependent on another country to produce a mineral that we desperately need in this country. It's pretty exciting.
Yeah, it certainly is. And speaking of federal support, why don't we talk about the partnership that Niop has with the Pentagon in addition to funding they've provided? And can you walk us through those deals and how that partnership, how you plan to leverage it to advance the Elk Creek project?
Yeah, and it's a great great question, Jesse, and it's something that we're very proud of, um, because it it it shows, you know, support by the the the United States government for this project. But we did receive, and we publicized, a $10 million grant from the the Department of War or Pentagon. Uh, we we publicized that in August. It was a very lengthy process. We went through almost a two-and-a-half-year process to get that that grant awarded, but a very important grant. Two items on on the front end in terms of what that grant was was intended for. Uh, the Pentagon wants this project up and running because of of how important it is. And so they knew that we needed certain technical information to be, uh, developed and provided to the US Export-Import Bank. And so they provided a significant amount of money to allow us to undertake some additional infill drilling to raise the the, uh, geologic reserve from probable to proven. So all that drilling has been done and and paid for by by the US government. They also, uh, wanted some, we we had redesigned our our metallurgy and got it to the point that that I mentioned a moment ago that I'm about as excited about as I've ever been in the metallurgical world, with the recoveries we're getting and and and just the efficiencies of this process. Um, they they provided, uh, some money as part of this grant for us to take the process flow diagram and undertake the engineering of that process flow, uh, diagram up to feasibility study level engineering. That was started in April of this year. It'll be done, uh, at the end of this month. I mean, it's December 1st today. It's going to be done by the end of this month. So, uh, you know, all that technical work is being supported by, uh, the Pentagon.
Then there's two other little pieces that they added as well, which again shows the importance of scandium to our our military. They asked us to figure out how to make scandium metal, uh, because that is not done in the United States today. And the way that it's done in other countries today, like Vietnam and China, is is just, it it's embarrassing to think about the environmental damage that's being caused with every pound of metal that they're making. And so we're going to do it in an environmentally sound way, uh, and and have the product onshore in the United States. Uh, we know the technology that we're going to use. We've been evaluating different technologies. We know the technology we're going to use, and that first scandium metal is going to be produced in February of 2026. That's all being supported by, uh, the DoD grant. Uh, the second item is the Lockheed project that I talked about a moment ago, where we're advancing, uh, generation five, uh, technology in the fighter jets to generation six, and that's where that threat detection system, you know, doubles in terms of the radius and it goes 360 degrees, not 180 degrees. Huge, huge improvement to the safety of our fighter jets. Huge, uh, uh, increase in terms of lethality of of the fighter jets. So that's what that that grant supported. I I think that that is is just wonderful that the DoD sees the advantages of getting this project up and running and producing scandium as part of this project as well. So we we can't thank, uh, the Department of War, Pentagon, Department of Defense, whatever we call it now. Uh, we can't thank them enough for their support and their vision to see how important these metals are at at the Elk Creek project.
Talk to us about your cash position and plans to raise capital to move the project forward. I know, as you mentioned, you're processing a debt financing application for $780 million with the US Export-Import Bank. Walk us through those details. Cash on the balance sheet and and how much runway that will all give you.
Yeah, we, you know, the debt is is the debt, and we're we're pretty much focused on, uh, getting that debt from, uh, the United States, uh, Export-Import Bank. In addition to their interest for debt on the project, we also have interest out of the UK, United Kingdom, and we also have interest out of Germany. The the total amount of debt we're talking about remains $780 million. So to the extent that, uh, the United Kingdom comes in with with their expressed interest of $200 million, and the German government comes in with their expressed interest at about $200 million, that just takes the $780 million that the US Export-Import Bank, uh, has has been looking at for us, and it drops it to maybe $380 million if both of those other, uh, agencies come in. So, the debt looks looks very good. And remember that the terms of that debt are basically going to be 10-year Treasury note interest. They'll add a little bit of a a risk, uh, interest level to that, but no more than 3% on top of that. So, it's going to be 7% or less in terms of interest rate, and it'll be a 10-year loan. I can't get that in the commercial world today. So, this is the best cost of capital for the company, creates value for our shareholders as a result. So, we're going to continue to to work very hard, and I think 2026 is going to be a very, um, a very exciting year for the company, and I think we're going to bring that US Export-Import, uh, loan, uh, to to fruition. In other words, close it and and have it binding, uh, for the company. So, on the debt side, uh, we're we know what path we're going down, and it's, it's looking very, very good right now.
On the equity side, if we just take the $1.2, $2 billion capital estimate for the, uh, construction of the mine and the and the web facility, and subtract a $780 million, that leaves about $420 million of equity or or equity-like, uh, financing that we need to provide, uh, to to support that debt package. We've had a very, very good 2025 in terms of raising money. We have brought in over $376 million, uh, to the company's treasury. We still have over $300 million in the bank, and that all goes towards that $420 million. So we need to raise a little bit more yet, but not that much. And the markets are still very good for critical and strategic minerals and mining projects. U, so we we will go out and raise a little bit more. But because of the money we have in the bank, we can be a little bit selective on when we go out to to undertake that fundraising. And we have a very good track record, starting in in January of 2025 with the first, uh, equity raise that we did, and going all the way through October with six different equity raises in 2025. You'll see the pattern is that every time we raised more money, every time the share price was higher, every time we went out and raised money, and the discount to the to the share price, uh, in the market the day that we we did the, uh, fundraising kept going down every single time. These are ve very good trends that any shareholder, existing shareholder, or new shareholders would want to see in terms of how a company is raising the money and being responsible about how they're raising that money. So yes, we do need to to raise a little bit more yet, but that's well within our capabilities. And the money that we have on the balance sheet right now, over $300 million of cash, um, that that's a a huge runway. It it allows us to operate as a company without going out and doing one or $2 million raises just to keep the lights on. So we're in very good shape with cash. We're actually advancing the project as much as humanly possible to get it prepared for construction. So we're doing the the the clearing of brush and trees on the property right now so that when we get the financing done, construction can start like that. We purchased all the property that we need to own for a 30-plus year mine life. So, we now own 640 acres of property out there, including all the mineral rights that we need. It's all privately owned. We have all that in in in in our pocket right now. And and those are just kind of smart things to get out of the way early before construction starts because we've seen movies, we've read stories, we we've seen news reports how, you know, landowners sometimes get get a little, uh, hungrier in terms of price for the property and whatnot, right when construction is going to start, and they kind of have you over a barrel. That's not a problem. We own all the property. We're taking care of these things. We're having utilities brought into the site. We've done the drilling that I talked about earlier. We're hiring, uh, people into the company to get our team up to to full speed for a very large construction project. So, we're spending money in ways that increases the value of the company, and it also prepares us for construction when it when it actually starts, uh, full steam ahead.
Is there anything we haven't yet discussed, or anything that you think it's important to emphasize that you think potential shareholders of Niop should be focused on?
You know, I I think we've covered just about everything, Jesse. Your questions have been just spot on. I really appreciate the the depth of the questions that you've had. But, you know, I think in summary, we have a a a resource here that is is a phenomenal resource, and it's extremely large. We're going to be here for hundreds of years. So, we have a great resource. The metallurgy, we've proven all the way up to feasibility study level. So, this is a a a well-demonstrated, uh, metallurgical process at this point in time. We have all of our permits in hand. Financing is this this close. Uh, so we're just about there on the financing, and we're now preparing for construction. I think, uh, our shareholders in 2026 are going to see some very exciting activities occurring on site. They're going to see this project come to reality. And that's what this entire team at Niop has been working for. We're we're we're the kind of people that are used to building and operating large projects. That's what we do. That's what what makes our butt, our blood pump. And, uh, we're we're this close to making that happen. So, it's going to be an exciting 2026. I hope everybody, uh, shares that excitement with us, and, uh, I think it's going to be a pretty good future for this company.
Fantastic. Well, I'm going to put a link in the description below to the Niop website as well as social media so people can follow along with the company. Mark, it's been a blast. I feel like I could talk to you for for another hour straight about these topics, but I appreciate you coming on the show.
Thank you. My pleasure. Thank you, Jesse, for the opportunity.
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