Mr. Mark Smith reports

NIOCORP: CHINA'S CRITICAL MINERALS LEVERAGE OVER THE U.S. IS AT DANGEROUS LEVELS

Mark A. Smith, chief executive officer and executive chairman of Niocorp Developments Ltd. believes that China's critical minerals leverage over the United States is at dangerous levels and gives China the ability to quickly hobble U.S. manufacturing for many military and clean energy technologies. Mr. Smith will warn senior U.S. officials of these dangers at a high-profile conference in Washington, D.C., on March 12, 2024, and will urge that the U.S. government more aggressively encourage greater U.S. critical mineral development on a fast-track basis.

Niocorp's Elk Creek critical mineral project will be highlighted at the event, which will be held in Washington, D.C. on March 12 to March 13, 2024. Joining Mr. Smith in making presentations at the conference are Rita Jo Lewis, chair of the board of the Export-Import Bank of the U.S. (EXIM); Jennifer Granholm, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy; Amos Hochstein, senior adviser to President Biden for energy and investment; senior officials from the U.S. International Development Finance Corp. and U.S. State Department; members of Congress; and senior executives from a broad cross-section of industries. The conference is expected to attract coverage by national and international news media outlets.

EXIM is currently engaged in processing an application by Niocorp for up to $800-million in debt financing for the Elk Creek project. EXIM has advanced Niocorp's application past the first of three transaction review committee reviews and is now conducting due diligence analyses of the project.

In addition to Mr. Smith's recommendation for multipronged government action to support more domestic mining, he will also note that EV (electric vehicle) sales remain the fastest-growing segment in the automotive industry and that reports of the death of EVs are greatly exaggerated. According to Cox Automotive, EV sales in 2023 topped one million units in the United States for the first time ever, fourth quarter 2023 sales were 46 per cent higher year over year, and 2024 sales are forecast to rise between 20 per cent and 30 per cent.

Conference presentations will not be broadcast live but recorded videos of the presentations are expected to be made available following the conference.

About Niocorp Developments Ltd.

Niocorp is developing a critical mineral project in southeast Nebraska that will produce niobium, scandium and titanium. The company also is evaluating the potential to produce several rare earths from the project. Niobium is used to produce specialty alloys as well as high-strength, low-alloy (HSLA) steel, which is a lighter, stronger steel used in automotive, structural and pipeline applications. Scandium is a specialty metal that can be combined with aluminum to make alloys with increased strength and improved corrosion resistance. Scandium is also a critical component of advanced solid oxide fuel cells. Titanium is used in various lightweight alloys and is a key component of pigments used in paper, paint and plastics and is also used for aerospace applications, armour and medical implants. Magnetic rare earths, such as neodymium, praseodymium, terbium and dysprosium, are critical to the making of neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) magnets, which are used across a wide variety of defence and civilian applications.

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