Citadel's Ken Griffin Boosts Stake in Mineral Projects Developer by 4,600% as Stock Jumps over 100% This Year

Billionaire investor Kenneth C Griffin leads one of the most successful hedge funds in the world. As the founder and CEO of Citadel Advisors, Griffin has a net worth of £35.9 billion ($48.3 billion).

Griffin is widely known for his open-mindedness to diverse asset classes and love for math, evident from his quantitative investing approach, which helped Citadel generate over £55.1 billion ($74 billion) in net gains since its inception in 1990. The hedge fund currently has over $63 billion in assets under management.

While the hedge fund manager could be more vocal about his investing strategies, his approach reveals patterns of high-frequency trades backed by complex algorithms.

According to the latest filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Citadel bought 3.69 million shares of NioCorp Developments (NASDAQ:NB), boosting the hedge fund's stake in the US mineral projects developer by 4,671%. The filing, dated 25th July, Citadel now owns 3.77 million shares of the company worth £8.81 million ($11.83 million), based on an average buy price of £2.34 ($3.14).

NioCorp Developments stock is up over 106% year-to-date after years of steady decline. The uptrend this year can be attributed to the company's focus on developing the Elk Creek Critical Minerals Project, which is North America's only niobium/scandium/titanium project in Nebraska.

The project's mineral resource also comprises America's second-largest rare-earth indicated resource. In a recent press release, the company said that it is ramping up pre-construction activities for the project after securing £45.2 million ($60.7 million) in net proceeds from equity offerings it closed earlier this year.

In April, NioCorp Developments closed an underwritten public offering of over 7.6 million common shares at £1.94 ($2.60) apiece for gross proceeds of nearly £14.9 million ($20 million). The company also realised £0.6 million ($0.8 million) of additional proceeds upon the partial exercise of an overallotment option by underwriters to buy up to an additional 323,504 shares. This month, the company closed an offering of 13.8 million common shares at £2.42 ($3.25) apiece for gross proceeds of £33.5 million ($45 million).

According to NioCorp Developments CEO Mark A. Smith, the company is expediting field activities and pre-construction work stream with the goal of achieving commercial operation at the Elk Creek Project in Nebraska once complete financing is secured. 'There is both an economic and a national defence imperative to getting strategic US resources like the Elk Creek Project online as rapidly as possible,' he said.

As part of the plans to advance the Elk Creek project, NioCorp Developments will also launch multiple initiatives involving additional land acquisition, geomechanical and hydrogeological field work, site preparation and infrastructure development, operational permitting, utility hookups, as well as detailed engineering.

According to TipRanks, two analysts from Maxim Group and HC Wainwright tracking the NioCorp stock reiterated their 'buy' ratings earlier this month. Maxim Group had a 12-month stock price target of £3.73 ($5) per share, implying an upside of over 59% from the closing price of $3.14 per share last Friday.

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