Australia’s American Rare Earths (ASX: ARR) says a new scoping study for its Halleck Creek project in Wyoming confirms its potential to become a world-class rare earth element (REE) project.
The preliminary technical and economic study on the viability of the rare earths project is based on a scenario that includes developing an open pit mine and processing facility onsite as well as a refinery offsite.
The report, compiled by independent firm Stantec Consulting Services, highlights a 3-million-tonne-per-year operating scenario.
Net present value (NPV) is pegged at US$673.9 million at an 8% discount rate, before taxes. At a 10% discount, the NPV is US$505.1 million, yielding an internal rate of return (IRR) of 22.5%.
The payback period is estimated at 2.9 years, with initial capital costs of US$456.1 million, including a US$76 million contingency.
Rare earths, a group of 17 minerals critical to the energy transition for their use in electric car batteries and wind turbines, are also crucial to national security for use in aerospace and defence applications.
Wyoming has become one of the go-to places to explore for these materials fun hopes it could become America’s answer to China’s lock on the market. And the Halleck Creek project was named by Mining Intelligence last year as one the world’s top 10 rare earth projects, measured in total rare earth oxides (TREO).
Halleck Creek hosts 1.4 billion measured and indicated tonnes grading 3,295 parts per million (ppm) TREO (0.33% TREO) using a cutoff grade of 1,000 ppm.
American Rare Earths will need to acquire the necessary licences to explore on Wyoming state mineral leases in order to collect rocks for bulk material testing and pilot-scale metallurgical test work to advance the project.
After that, American Rare Earths will prepare and implement a detailed baseline environmental plan and will also start working on a permit application to mine on state mineral leases.
The only rare earth mine operating in the U.S. – MP Materials‘ (NYSE: MP) Mountain Pass in California.
The average grade of the Magnet Rare Earth Oxides which make up 24% of the TREO works out to about 0.08% according to the recent Technical Report dated February 2024 (based on a TREO cut-off grade of 0.1%). Obviously this is rather low…..The Measured & Indicated MRE contains 1.4 Bt @ 0.33% TREO with Inferred resources of 0.92 Bt @ 0.30 % TREO.