The Department of Defense has awarded $10 million to a Nebraska-based mining company to develop the first domestic production facility for scandium and other critical minerals, marking a significant step toward reducing America’s dependence on Chinese-controlled supply chains for advanced defense materials, including hypersonic missiles.
The award, announced through Title III of the Defense Production Act, goes to Elk Creek Resources Corporation (ECRC), a subsidiary of NioCorp Developments Ltd., to advance their polymetallic mining project near Elk Creek, Nebraska. The facility aims to produce scandium, niobium, titanium, and other strategic materials essential for next-generation military systems.
Breaking Decades of Foreign Dependence
The investment addresses a critical vulnerability in America’s defense industrial base. According to the Pentagon, “the last recorded scandium mining in the United States occurred in 1969, with substantially all current scandium production, in any form, now occurring in China.”
This dependency has created significant strategic risks, as scandium alloys are increasingly vital for advanced military applications. “Scandium alloys are increasingly replacing titanium alloy and legacy aluminum alloy components in DoD systems due to their superior lightweight, high-strength characteristics,” explained Dr. Vic Ramdass, Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy.
The mineral’s unique properties make it invaluable for:
- Advanced propulsion systems for military aircraft
- Next-generation energy systems for defense platforms
- Structural components for aircraft programs
- Hypersonic weapons systems currently under development
- Future aircraft platforms in the Pentagon’s modernization pipeline
The scarcity of scandium has been a major bottleneck preventing wider adoption of these advanced materials in aerospace and defense applications. As Pentagon officials noted, “Geological scarcity and limited production infrastructure drive scandium industrial shortages.”
Supporting Presidential Mineral Security Initiative
The Defense Department’s investment aligns with broader White House efforts to secure America’s critical mineral supply chains. The funding “supports the March 20, 2025, Executive Order 14241 Immediate Measures to Increase American Mineral Production, the goal of which is to facilitate domestic mineral production.”
This executive order represents the Biden administration’s recognition that mineral security is national security, particularly as competition with China intensifies across multiple technological domains.
William “Greg” Davis, Acting Director of the Manufacturing Capability Expansion and Investment Prioritization directorate, emphasized the broader significance of the investment. “DPA Title III investments like this one are key for reducing the U.S. defense industrial base’s dependence on foreign sources for critical minerals,” he stated.
The successful development of the Elk Creek project could establish ECRC as one of the first U.S. producers of scandium in over five decades, potentially catalyzing broader domestic critical mineral production.
Nerve Analysis
If successful, the Nebraska facility could serve as a model for other domestic critical mineral projects, helping rebuild America’s industrial capacity for materials essential to 21st-century warfare. The project represents a concrete step toward the Pentagon’s goal of creating “a vertically integrated domestic supply chain for scandium alloy production [that] enables multiple avenues for innovation in defense aerospace.”
As hypersonic weapons, advanced aerospace platforms, and next-generation military systems become increasingly central to America’s defense strategy, securing reliable access to the materials that make them possible has become a national security imperative. The Elk Creek project, while modest in scale, could prove pivotal in establishing the domestic supply chains needed to support these advanced capabilities.