Mark Smith
Executive Chairman, President & CEO
[Audio Gap] We are working just laser-focused on getting that EXIM loan in place. EXIM has been very clear. They need certain technical work programs to be done. They need additional offtake by NioCorp, and they need to have a higher level of confidence in our ability to raise the equity needed for the project financing.
And we have some very good news on all of those fronts. The two technical work programs that EXIM has asked us to do are actually on board. They are being finished up as we speak. We started those in late April of this year. So we are in very good shape there.
And the technical work programs that we’re undertaking actually will meet the highest standards available in the industry. So the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has a standard. It’s called S-K 1300. We will meet those S-K 1300 standards at the feasibility study level.
So this is not guessing. This isn’t preliminary economic assessments. This isn’t pre-feasibility. This is feasibility study level standards, and we’re exceptionally proud to meet those standards and give the U.S. Export-Import Bank and our shareholders the confidence they need in this project.
The second item, offtake, we hope to have some good news on that very soon. As you can imagine, when you’re producing critical strategic minerals today where there are very few options where to get those minerals, the #1 option, obviously being China, that creates a problem.
And so there is multiple sources of demand for these minerals, and it’s just a
