(KLZA)-- NioCorp has announced plans to initiate a 12-week drilling program at their Elk Creek Project site in Southeast Nebraska in support of an updated feasibility study.

The limited 9-hole drilling campaign is designed to support the conversion of a portion of the current Indicated Resources into Measured Resources and the subsequent conversion of a portion of its current Probabley Mineral Reserves into Proven Mineral Reserves.

The updated study is a necessary part of the due diligence process of the application for debt financing NioCorp is seeking from the U.S. Export-Import Bank.

The NioCorp minerals project is designed to potentially produce critical minerals that China is now threatening to withhold from the U.S. and Western allies.