American Rare Earths has potentially made a big new rare earths discovery in the US, with promising signs from drilling areas of its La Paz project that were not previously drilled.

Drilling at American Rare Earths’ (ASX:ARR) La Paz project may have unearthed a new rare earths orebody in the Southwest area, about 4-7km southwest of the maiden resource – and area that has never been drilled until now.

All the assayed drill holes, including the new Southwest areas, produced rare earth elements (REE) grades higher than cut-off and deeper than the original resource, the company told investors today.

The latest drilling results have surpassed the company’s expectations, with mineralisation found as much as 4x deeper in select holes at previously undrilled depths.

American Rare Earths
Pic: Supplied

One hole contained consistent REE grades above 300 parts per million (ppm) cut-off down to a depth of 122m, much deeper than the initial shallow resource.

The average total REE grade from this fresh drilling is 398ppm, which is around 6.4% greater than the resource average.

All this means there is a strong possibility ARR could significantly upgrade the indicated and inferred resources.

There is also evidence of increasing high-value magnetic and heavy rare earths used in numerous high demand technologies such as electric vehicles (EVs), wind turbines, air conditioners/refrigeration, phones, and critical national defence industry tech.

What is particularly significant about this new discovery is it is shown to have “extraordinarily” low radioactive materials like thorium and uranium, which is a big advantage for an emerging rare earths producer.

According to ARR, the La Paz project has the lowest thorium levels of any US REE mine.

High value scandium has also been confirmed at the project and the grades are consistent with historical surface sampling.

Scandium is classified as a critical mineral, making it highly sought after. It’s added to aluminium products to make them lighter, stronger, more corrosion-resistant and heat-tolerant.

If the Scandium concentrates to commercially viable grades during the REE beneficiation and metallurgy, the resulting economic benefit could be extremely significant to the project, ARR noted.

Scandium can sell for as much as $US3,400/kg, according to recent price reports by BAIINFO (Beijing).

All signs point to the resource being open at depth and laterally, which is extremely promising for a sizeable resource upgrade.

This has given ARR’s US subsidiary Western Rare Earths the confidence to stake additional claims and undertake additional exploration to determine the extent of the REE mineralisation.

 

This article was developed in collaboration with American Rare Earths, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

 

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.

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