At a time of red hot political and market interest in critical minerals, American Rare Earths is taking strides towards its goal of being a leading supplier of the minerals with the start of drilling at its 100% owned Halleck Creek project in Wyoming.

The maiden drill program at the 512 hectare project closely follows drilling commencing in the southwest zone of American Rare Earths (ASX:ARR)’s flagship La Paz project last month. That campaign is targeting a further 700 to 900 million tonnes at the 170.6 million tonne JORC compliant total resource in Arizona.

At Halleck Creek the nine-hole diamond core drill campaign over about 825m has a target of 308-385 million tonnes.

Expected to be completed by late April, it will provide initial mineralization and fresh rock material for additional analysis, with assays expected in June.

Managing director and CEO Chris Gibbs said it was an exciting time for the American Rare Earths team.

“Surface samples collected in 2018 and 2021 show high-grade rare-earth element (REE) mineralization which is rich in Neodymium and Praseodymium (NdPr) with low penalty elements of Thorium and Uranium,” he said.

“The Halleck Creek targets will complement our La Paz Rare Earth project deposits which also target Neodymium and Praseodymium with ultra-low penalty elements of Thorium and Uranium in Arizona.”

Demand for rare earths Neodymium and Praseodymium (NdPr) in particular has skyrocketed in recent months due to the NdPr alloy being an essential ingredient in permanent magnets vital for renewable energy products such as electric vehicles, wind turbines and generators.

Initial surface sampling of the Overton Mountain area was conducted in 2018 by Australian company Zenith Minerals. That revealed average Total Rare Earth Oxide (TREO) values of 3,297 ppm, average Heavy Rare Earth Oxide (HREO) values of 244 ppm, and average Magnetic Rare Earth Oxide (MREO) values of 816 ppm.

In June and July of 2021, a follow-up surface sampling program with a total of 197 samples were collected from the Halleck Creek project area. Favourable and significant results showed an average Total Rare Earth Oxide (TREO) value of 3,187 ppm and a noteworthy, combined Nd and Pr average of 702 ppm. The results also showed that the Red Mountain Pluton is Light Rare Earth Oxide (LREO) dominant, with a significant average of 2,836 ppm.

While advancing its large-scale projects, American Rare Earths is collaborating with US Government supported R&D programs at the forefront of developing sustainable rare earths refining technologies to support supply chain security.

These include the US Department of Energy Innovation Hub, the Critical Minerals Institute (CMI) and the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) Rare Earths bioengineering research program.

 

 

 

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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