Rare earth projects in the U.S. have built in political protection no matter which way the Presidential elections turn out later this year, American Rare Earths CEO Donald Swartz told Kitco on Thursday.
American Rare Earths (ASX:ARR) is advancing its flagship 100%-owned Halleck Creek project, which the company says has the potential to be the largest rare earths deposit in the U.S. The project is located in central Wyoming, which should favor permitting. A February 2024 JORC resource came in at 2.34 billion tonnes, with 1.42 billion tonnes of measured and indicated resources estimated at a grade of 3,296 ppm total rare earth oxides (TREO) using a 1,000ppm TREO cut-off.
Metallurgy work is underway. Last month the company announced that its Halleck Creek ore had been successfully pre-concentrated to 3.5% TREO at a 12:1 upgrade ratio, representing a ~200% increase from existing flowsheet design using low-cost, conventional dense medium separation.
“We really like the unit economics of the project,” said Swartz about the metallurgical work. “We’re really blessed that 27% of the project is the magnetic rare earths. Metallurgy is very important; this is as much a specialty chemical business as it is a mining business.”
Swartz said that rare earths benefit no matter which way the politics turn out in the U.S. during an election year.
“In a political environment where everything has become so polarized, it's one of the few things that has bipartisan support,” said Swartz. “You have the Republicans that are very focused on national security…and then you have the Democrats who are certainly very focused on the energy transition and on the green economy. So heads we win and tails we win.”
0:00 - What is American Rare Earth focused on?
0:55 - Halleck Creek project
2:05 - Why metallurgy is important to rare earth projects
3:30 - Mineral processing study
4:05 - Rare earth prices economics
4:47 - U.S. elections and critical minerals
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