American Rare Earths’ Halleck Creek project now has even more potential to be one of the largest critical minerals deposits in the US after the company identified a possible significant new rare earths deposit and filed new 118 mining claims in the district.

The claims within the new County Line prospect area add ~855ha to the district, bringing the total area controlled by American Rare Earths (ASX: ARR) to 3304ha and boosting total claims in the region by 26%.

The news of the new claims closely follows ARR’s December Quarterly which detailed its progress towards commercialisation of 100% owned Halleck Creek project and how it’s looking forward to transformational months ahead.

This includes releasing an updated exploration target for Halleck Creek, which already stands at a globally significant  1.01-1.27 billion tonnes of rare earth mineralised rocks.

ARR also expects to announce a Maiden Resource Estimate for Halleck Creek by the end of the first quarter as exploration continues.

Recently appointed President of the North American Business, Melissa Sanderson said: “We are very excited for what this means to both the State of Wyoming and helping to onshore critical materials for the US.

“This is a key strategic project for the country and could help fulfill most of the future demand for these highly valuable magnetic rare earth materials, which are so important for national security and ensuring 100% of the supply chain remains within the US.”

Ms Sanderson added that what also made the Halleck Creek project unique was the extremely low thorium and uranium penalty elements so often associated with rare earth projects. This means less harmful chemicals used during processing and not having to dispose of radioactive waste.

“As we seek to decarbonise the planet we need rare earths for our future energy needs, electric vehicles, wind turbines and everyday living,” Sanderson said.

“However, it’s vitally important to source these from within America, but more importantly doing it in a green and environmentally friendly manner.”

Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Chris Gibbs said the addition of the County Line claims provided ARR contiguous control of federal claims and state mining leases across seven discrete areas across 8kmx8km.

“Our immediate focus is to establish a significant JORC Resource where we recently completed drilling at the Overton and Red Mountain areas,” Gibbs said.

“However, we are also looking forward to conducting further exploration activities in the additional five areas within this major district. To give context, the current drilling program is only over an area of less than 18% of the total claims covering rare earth mineralisation which is an exciting prospect for us.”

The company is on a roll with good news. Last week it announced that drilling had confirmed consistent rare earths mineralisation to at least 150m at Halleck Creek, an increase of 50% over previous drilling, with the deposit remaining open laterally and at depth.

Additionally, metallurgical testing indicates the rare earth elements host material can be recovered using simple separation technology, which cuts energy use and costs while boosting the opportunity to lift capacity.

XRF readings taken by the geologists from the new areas compare favourably to surface samples in the nearby Bluegrass area, which also contains the highly valuable magnetic rare earths neodymium and praseodymium.

ARR geologists are planning wide area geological mapping and surface sampling across the County Line area in the first half of this year, as weather and ground conditions permit. The mapping and sampling will provide the direction for long-term development of the Halleck Creek Rare Earths district.

At the same time, ARR is advancing its La Paz project in Arizona, which has a  has a current JORC Resource estimate of 170MT with Ongoing work targeting ~742-928MT of rare earths mineralised rocks to establish a JORC resource for the SW area.

ARR is also continuing to work with leading R&D partners including the US Department of Energy Innovation Hub, the Critical Minerals Institute and the Critical Materials Institute. The R&D also provides feedstock to funding program applicants including researchers from US national laboratories and elite American ‘Research One’ universities.

This R&D has the potential to transform not just ARR but also the rare earths industry into a cleaner and more sustainable one to pave the way to a renewable future.

 

 

 

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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