American Rare Earths (ASX:ARR) infills big rare-earth rise at Halleck Creek

American Rare Earths‘ infill drilling campaign has elevated its rare earth resources by a hefty 64 per cent and returned an in situ 2.34 billion tonnes at 3196ppm total rare earth oxide estimate at its Halleck Creek Project in the US state of Wyoming.

The Halleck project estimate holds a large 27% chunk of magnetic oxides, with the increase bringing in a 128% rise in measured and indicated resources with a 1000 parts per million TREO cut-off.

The deposit remains open at depth and along strike, with American Rare Earths CEO Donald Swartz seeing ample room for expansion at the largely undrilled project.

“These results are illustrative of the enormous potential of the project when the resource increases 64% during a developmental drilling campaign, which increased measured/indicated resources 128%,” Mr Swartz said.

“Typically, you’ll see the resource decrease as infill drilling takes place – instead we’re seeing the opposite, with only 25% of the project being drilled to this point.

“The low-cost mine plan, when combined with the breakthroughs around metallurgy, have increased our confidence and excitement about this world-class deposit. At 27% MREO, we look forward to releasing the results of the scoping study that is nearing completion.”

Advanced mine planning and metallurgy now support a lower cut-off grade of 1000ppm in place of the previous 1500ppm, as the explorer works with international engineering consultant Stantec to develop a JORC scoping study for Halleck Creek.

Grade tonnage curve for TREO, comparing 2023 and the latest 2024 update

Rare-earth investment

Western nations were already scrambling to reduce reliance on Chinese rare earths when December’s export restrictions on magnet technology came into place as government institutions spent up to support domestic industries.

The Australian government announced another $22 million for rare earth and critical minerals research, but that is small change compared to the funding available through North American means.

The US Department of Defense is funding a Lynas downstream processing plant in Texas while MP Materials has Pentagon support and a contract to boost supply, and a Republican-led committee is pushing Congress for tax breaks in the rare earth industry.

“Congress should incentivise the production of rare earth element magnets, which are the principal end-use for rare earth elements and used in electric vehicles, wind turbines, wireless technology, and countless other products,” the committee said last December.

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