Lattice Graph × NioCorp Developments

Lattice Graph operates a materials knowledge graph that spans millions of compositions and connects experimental results, computational predictions, patent claims, deposit data, and synthesis records into a single queryable structure. For a critical-minerals developer like NioCorp, whose economics depend on selectively recovering multiple metals from a single polymetallic leachate, the knowledge graph provides the kind of cross-element, cross-chemistry intelligence that no single literature source or in-house database can replicate. Every candidate separation chemistry in the graph carries traceable provenance, so a feasibility reviewer can follow a selectivity claim back to its experimental or computational evidence rather than accepting it at face value. Candidate materials are validated using multiple independent physics engines in parallel. Machine-learning interatomic potentials (including MACE and CHGNet) and density functional theory calculations run side by side on each composition, and stability predictions advance only when those independent methods reach consensus on phonon and thermodynamic stability. For NioCorp, this matters because the difference between a sorbent that performs in a vendor datasheet and one that holds selectivity in an acidic, multi-ion carbonatite leachate is exactly the kind of disagreement our multi-engine approach surfaces before pilot-plant capital is committed. We also hold a large atlas of labeled negative results from failed experiments, most of which never appear in public literature, which means we can tell NioCorp which recovery routes have already been tried and failed on comparable feeds, saving months of duplicated bench work. Across more than 300,000 materials patents, Lattice Graph screens freedom to operate and maps patent whitespace at the composition and claim level. For a pre-investment-decision project like Elk Creek that needs to own, not license around, the chemistry defining its co-product flowsheet, that screening capability is not a nice-to-have. It is the difference between building a separation train with a defensible IP position and discovering a blocking claim after demonstration-plant capital has been spent. The platform synthesizes all of this into a single interface: supply intelligence, computational validation, failed-experiment context, and IP screening working together on NioCorp's specific elements and process conditions.

NioCorp Developments is advancing the Elk Creek project in southeast Nebraska, a carbonatite deposit positioned to produce niobium, scandium, titanium, and a basket of rare earths from one ore body. That multi-product structure is both the project's core advantage and its hardest analytical problem. Niobium anchors the revenue base, but the project's returns and its differentiation lean heavily on scandium, where NioCorp is one of very few prospective Western primary sources, and on the magnetic rare earths it can liberate from the same feed. Proving that co-product story to financiers and offtake counterparties requires more than market commentary; it requires element-level supply-risk evidence, selectivity-grounded separation chemistry, and an auditable chain from feedstock to salable product specification. Lattice Graph is built for precisely this intersection of supply intelligence and process chemistry. Our mineral-deposit and critical-minerals data infrastructure, rooted in the USGS MRDS, lets NioCorp ground its supply-concentration arguments in hard deposit-level numbers rather than qualitative assertions. Our critical-mineral recovery and recycling separations portfolio provides the separation and recovery chemistries NioCorp needs to turn a complex leachate into individual co-product streams, each with verified selectivity data, freedom-to-operate clearance, and the failed-experiment context needed to choose between competing routes before committing to a flowsheet. And the knowledge graph itself provides the provenance layer that makes the whole co-product narrative auditable by a feasibility reviewer, a DOE program officer, or a project-finance lender. The strategic timing is clear. NioCorp sits in the stretch between an updated feasibility study and a final investment decision, a period where every validated dollar of scandium or rare-earth co-product netback moves project NPV and the financing conversation. US policy pressure to develop domestic critical-mineral supply chains, combined with persistent offshore concentration of niobium, scandium, and heavy-rare-earth production, creates an environment where a defensible, evidence-backed co-product flowsheet with a clean IP position is a bankability differentiator, not just a technical detail. Lattice Graph supplies the data, the chemistry, and the IP-screening infrastructure to build that narrative on solid ground.

NioCorp Developments is advancing the Elk Creek project in southeast Nebraska, a carbonatite deposit positioned to produce niobium, scandium, titanium, and a basket of rare earths from one ore body. That multi-product structure is both the project's core advantage and its hardest analytical problem. Niobium anchors the revenue base, but the project's returns and its differentiation lean heavily on scandium, where NioCorp is one of very few prospective Western primary sources, and on the magnetic rare earths it can liberate from the same feed. Proving that co-product story to financiers and offtake counterparties requires more than market commentary; it requires element-level supply-risk evidence, selectivity-grounded separation chemistry, and an auditable chain from feedstock to salable product specification. Lattice Graph is built for precisely this intersection of supply intelligence and process chemistry. Our mineral-deposit and critical-minerals data infrastructure, rooted in the USGS MRDS, lets NioCorp ground its supply-concentration arguments in hard deposit-level numbers rather than qualitative assertions. Our critical-mineral recovery and recycling separations portfolio provides the separation and recovery chemistries NioCorp needs to turn a complex leachate into individual co-product streams, each with verified selectivity data, freedom-to-operate clearance, and the failed-experiment context needed to choose between competing routes before committing to a flowsheet. And the knowledge graph itself provides the provenance layer that makes the whole co-product narrative auditable by a feasibility reviewer, a DOE program officer, or a project-finance lender. The strategic timing is clear. NioCorp sits in the stretch between an updated feasibility study and a final investment decision, a period where every validated dollar of scandium or rare-earth co-product netback moves project NPV and the financing conversation. US policy pressure to develop domestic critical-mineral supply chains, combined with persistent offshore concentration of niobium, scandium, and heavy-rare-earth production, creates an environment where a defensible, evidence-backed co-product flowsheet with a clean IP position is a bankability differentiator, not just a technical detail. Lattice Graph supplies the data, the chemistry, and the IP-screening infrastructure to build that narrative on solid ground.

The critical-mineral recovery and recycling separations portfolio is the natural home for NioCorp's separation and recovery needs. The assets it contains are not scandium- or niobium-specific compounds, and that is the honest and useful framing: the value to Elk Creek is in the separation toolkit that converts a complex polymetallic leachate into individually salable co-product streams. The universal chelating-resin platform is the clearest structural fit for a multi-product flowsheet. Designed as a single crosslinked support with interchangeable binding groups, it selectively recovers critical-mineral oxocations across a broad range of elements and oxidation states from acidic industrial streams, replacing what would otherwise be a stack of per-metal heritage resins. For a refinery pulling multiple metals from one feed, one configurable platform is operationally and economically attractive compared to running separate unit operations for each co-product. The heavy-rare-earth ion-imprinted resin bearing a structurally defined phosphonate-bis-picolinamide ligand targets the highest-value, most supply-constrained slice of NioCorp's rare-earth basket. Dysprosium and terbium are the rare earths that move co-product economics most, and this resin is designed specifically to achieve the separation factors needed to isolate them from adjacent lanthanides, with a reduced solvent inventory compared to conventional multi-stage solvent-extraction cascades. That capital-efficiency argument matters ahead of a final investment decision. Rounding out the rare-earth side, the ion-imprinted gallium recovery platform illustrates the portfolio's depth in selective recovery from high-impurity industrial liquors, a process-chemistry problem structurally similar to what NioCorp faces in separating trace-value metals from a complex carbonatite leachate. All assets in this portfolio carry freedom-to-operate clearance confirmed through Lattice Graph's patent-screening process, which is essential for NioCorp. Depending on heritage solvent-extraction art controlled by incumbent processors is a financing liability; licensing or co-developing recovery chemistry with a clean IP position is a financing asset. The integrated flowsheet system asset in the portfolio frames recovery not as a set of isolated compositions but as a cascade from feed to salable product specifications, which is the level of detail an offtake counterparty or project lender actually needs to evaluate.

The deposit and critical-minerals dashboards are the natural starting point for NioCorp's team. A geologist or corporate development lead can benchmark Elk Creek against the full USGS deposit universe, visualize supply-concentration and criticality metrics for niobium, scandium, titanium, and the rare-earth basket, and export element-level supply-risk summaries formatted for feasibility annexes, DOE briefings, or investor presentations. The supply and conversion-route views sit alongside these, translating co-product arguments into captivity-pair analyses and forward supply scenarios that commercial and finance teams can use directly in offtake conversations. The composition-intelligence dossier and knowledge-graph explorer let NioCorp's process engineers inspect any candidate separation chemistry with full provenance, evidence neighborhoods, and computational trust scores that flag where predictions are well-corroborated versus contested across independent methods. On the IP side, the freedom-to-operate and patent-whitespace workflow runs composition- and claim-level screening across the full materials patent corpus before a separation chemistry is locked into the flowsheet design. For a company that must own, not license around, its co-product recovery process, this capability closes the loop between selecting a chemistry and confirming it can be commercialized without encumbrance. The invention-opportunity interface surfaces patentable whitespace specific to NioCorp's recovery problem, giving the technical team leads on where to file rather than waiting for a chemistry to be invented and then hoping it is clear. Together these tools give NioCorp a single platform where supply intelligence, process chemistry evaluation, and IP diligence share the same provenance layer and the same underlying knowledge graph.

A NioCorp engagement is most efficiently structured in two parallel tracks. The first is a supply and co-product intelligence subscription built on the mineral-deposit, supply and conversion-routes, and knowledge-graph data products, providing the element-level supply-risk evidence, captivity-pair analysis, and provenance-grounded technical diligence that the Elk Creek co-product narrative needs through feasibility completion, investment decision, and early offtake conversations. This track can be activated quickly and delivers usable outputs within days of onboarding. The second track covers the critical-mineral recovery and recycling separations assets: the practical path is a paid evaluation phase in which Lattice Graph's team provides provenance-grounded technical assessments of the two or three separation assets most relevant to NioCorp's specific leachate chemistry and process conditions, before any broader license commitment is made. That evaluation phase is sized to answer the question of which assets merit deeper engagement, rather than committing NioCorp to a full portfolio license before the chemistry is validated against Elk Creek feed. If evaluation confirms fit, the license or co-development structure on the IP track would typically combine an upfront or option fee with running royalties tied to recovered co-product value, aligning Lattice Graph's returns with NioCorp's realized byproduct netback rather than requiring large upfront payments on unvalidated selectivity. Specific terms are set against measured performance on NioCorp's feed and confirmed freedom-to-operate scope, not against hypothetical projections. The combined engagement, data subscription plus selective IP evaluation leading to targeted licensing, is designed to be proportionate to NioCorp's current phase: providing decision-quality intelligence now while preserving flexibility on the IP side until the chemistry is demonstrated.