American Rare Earths reveals potential for larger, higher-grade resource at Halleck Creek, Wyoming
Last updated: 20:45 09 Apr 2024 EDT, First published: 20:15 09 Apr 2024 EDT
American Rare Earths Ltd (ASX:ARR, OTCQB:ARRNF) has generated soil sampling results of up to 6,221 parts per million (ppm) total rare earth oxide (TREO) from the Cowboy State Mine area of the Halleck Creek Rare Earth Element (REE) project in Wyoming, US.
Samples represent the potential for high-grade REE mineralisation with a TREO content 64% higher than that considered in current mine planning and a recent scoping study (3,805 ppm TREO), offering an opportunity for a larger, higher-grade REE deposit close to those already established by the company.
The newly identified mineralised zone has high potential to add to the recently upgraded mineral resource for the project, which sits at 2.34 billion tonnes at 3,196 ppm TREO at a 1,000 ppm TREO cut-off.
Complementary to current mine plans
“We are encouraged by these results that continue to demonstrate upside potential to our recently announced scoping study,” American Rare Earths CEO Donald Swartz said.
“These results are contiguous and complementary to our recently released mine plans, of which the entirety was developed on state lands, which provides accelerated permitting.
“These higher-grade target areas will allow for optimising mine planning and project economics as we enter pre-feasibility level analysis.
“The low-operating costs ($38.38 per kilogram neodymium-praseodymium equivalent) are largely attributable to the favourable geology, which is evident in these surface samples of highly enriched mineralisation within zero-strip-ratio mining areas.
“The uranium and thorium continue to occur in very low levels naturally.”
Importantly, the new mineralised area returned high levels of valuable magnet rare earth oxides (MREO), averaging 27% TREO.
ARR says the recent mapping and sampling program will support a future resource drilling campaign, seeking to delineate a higher-grade deposit at the Cowboy State Mine area.
