American Rare Earths Limited is happy to announce that recent exploration drilling at its flagship La Paz property in Arizona has shown extremely encouraging findings.
Drill hole LP22-SW05 contains 74.2 m of material with a weight average of 501ppm of Total Rare Earth Oxides (TREO). Image Credit: American Rare Earths Limited.
The company conducted nine exploratory holes at a depth of 2,692 feet in April 2022, collecting 677 samples. According to the preliminary study, rare earth mineralization can be found in a large fraction of the samples.
National Security
The rare earth elements, which include scandium and yttrium, are a collection of 15 elements. As they are vital to national security technology, the U.S. government has taken steps to encourage onshoring of the supply chain with the goal of wresting control from communist China.
The National Defense Authorization Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure included funding for notable programs. Currently, the House of Representatives is considering eleven resolutions and the Senate is considering seven measures aimed at strengthening American rare earth and essential minerals supply chains.
Energy in Motion
The future of low-carbon energy and transportation is a catalyst for rare earth raw materials. Rare earth elements (REEs) are a limited resource for building electric vehicle motors. Every major automobile manufacturer relies on rare earth permanent magnet motors to convert power into motion.
Offshore wind turbines, which convert motion into power, are equally reliant. New domestic rare earth mining projects are scarce but crucial, with no major recycling volume conceivable and demand expected to be more than double in the current decade.
Next Steps in Arizona
The business will expedite its exploration activities to extend the current JORC-compliant resources at La Paz as a response to the positive results. More exploration drilling might begin as early as late 2022, pending permit clearances.
We are very excited by these results from the drill program at the La Paz Southwest zone. They confirm our exploration target potential and reinforce our view that the newly discovered, mineralized zone has significant potential to expand our current JORC resource. An upgrade gives La Paz the potential to be one of the largest rare earths projects in North America.
Chris Gibbs, Chief Executive Officer, American Rare Earths Limited
Assay Results
Four drill holes from the La Paz project area yielded encouraging levels of rare earth enrichment in the first set of assays. Drill hole LP22-SW05 has 74.2 m of material with a total rare earth oxides (TREO) weight average of 501 ppm.
Drill hole LP22-SW04 likewise has enhanced levels of TREO, with a weighted average of 498 ppm TREO over a zone 52.9 m thick. A 5-foot zone of mineralized rock with a TREO grade of 758 ppm is also found in drill hole LP22-SW05.