American Rare Earth delivers ‘positive’ metallurgical results from Halleck Creek Rare Earth Project.

American Rare Earths Ltd (ASX:ARR, OTCQB:ARRNF) has delivered encouraging results from a series of metallurgical tests conducted at its Halleck Creek project in Wyoming, potentially the largest, rare earth project in the United States.

The results hold significant implications for the Halleck Creek project, hinting at potential opportunities to decrease both operating and capital costs.

The tests support the projection of a simple process flow sheet that will produce a rare earth concentrate and maximise the recovery of vital magnet metals Neodymium and Praseodymium (NdPr).

Furthermore, the low presence of penalty elements such as thorium and uranium, well below the regulatory standards, adds an extra layer of positivity to these findings.

Enhance project economics

ARR CEO and managing director Chris Gibbs said: “Rare earth projects typically have complex metallurgy.“Under the technical leadership of Wood PLC, these outstanding test results provide confidence for a simple process flow sheet.“Halleck Creek ore continues to pass all the key tests from a processing perspective: good recovery using conventional processing methods, low radioactive penalty elements and the ability to produce a mixed rare earth concentrate product. “In short, Halleck Creek has the right rare earth (NdPr) and low penalty elements. This means a valuable product, simple metallurgy, and lower costs.“Most importantly, the project is in the heart of the USA, the largest economy in the world.“As an exploration company, I’m also excited to advance our exploration activities at Halleck Creek. to support the economic and feasibility studies currently underway. “With less than 25% of the area drilled, the deposit remains open at depth and with significant upside potential.“To further enhance the project economics, we are keen to test the depth of the deposit, seek to upgrade resources and explore potential higher-grade zones within the project footprint.”

Test highlights

Key highlights from the latest test work include a 72% recovery rate through the bulk rougher/scavenger (primary) wet high-intensity magnetic separation (WHIMS), rejecting 77% of feed mass.

This upgrade ratio of 3.1 is a substantial improvement from the preliminary test results in December 2022, which saw a 5% less rejection of waste material in the early stages of processing.

Upcoming initiatives will aim to further refine these results, with additional testing scheduled to establish the final concentrate for refinery testing.

Current internal studies will focus on evaluating annualised ore processing rates of 10, 15, and 20 million tonnes per annum feed rate to the concentrator to optimise project economics.

Overall, these advancements could lead to the production of between 3,800 and 7,600 tonnes of the highly valuable NdPr oxides contained in mixed rare earth carbonate (MREC), further bolstering the US’s rare earth processing capabilities.