Oct 31 2013
U.S. Rare Earths, Inc., a U.S. based domestic rare earths exploration company with mining claims in Idaho, Montana, and Colorado, announced today an extension of its 2013 drilling and exploration program on its Last Chance Mine property. UREE will also initiate a new drilling and exploration program on its North Fork property in an area previously unmapped and undrilled.
The Company has broadened its mining claims to more than 25,000 acres as a result of its very successful 2013 drilling and exploration program. Surface channel sample assays from the initial 2013 Phase I North Fork exploration efforts identified significant grade percentages of Critical Rare Earth Oxides ("CREO") dysprosium, terbium, europium, neodymium and yttrium, and Total Rare Earth Oxides ("TREO").
The Company intends to drill eight new holes during Phase II exploration. Four holes will be drilled at each location bringing the grand total to eighteen holes during this drilling cycle.
The four additional holes at the Last Chance Mine property will be placed along the strike of the vein where it anticipates intersecting the vein at depths between 229 feet (70m) – 492 feet (150m). The initial results of the sub-surface drilling in 2013 Phase I drilling and exploration of the Lemhi Pass not only confirmed historic data, but returned both higher grades of TREOs and specifically CREOs than historically reported.
This area of the Company's Last Chance Mine property has, in-place, historic earth workings consisting of access roads and underground tunnels (two adits) extending over 1500 feet (453m). The company benefits enormously from existing infrastructure and intends to leverage this advantage to the fullest extent.
The Last Chance Mine property, located near the mining belt of east-central Idaho and west-central Montana is uniquely positioned for re-entry and development of a processing facility to create great American jobs. Continuing exploration is focused on upgrading other historic data and defining new areas located throughout the trend in advance of mining and development of our separation mill.
In the North Fork area, the Company plans to initiate drilling of four new holes in the coming weeks for subsurface confirmation of the significant results gleaned from compliant surface channel sample work and assays produced from its Phase I drilling and exploration program earlier this year. Subsurface exploration drilling of four holes along strike of a one kilometer (km) carbonatite vein and averaging approximately 6.5 feet (2m) in thickness at the surface is planned for investigation and analysis.
The exploration and drilling assays will allow the Company to better assess its land positions and prioritize both its resource exploration and development efforts. The Company's work on its NI 43-101 report is also well underway.
CEO Kevin Cassidy stated, "Building on our positive Phase I drilling and exploration results, which have been independently verified by Activation Labs ("Actlabs"), www.actlabs.com, we continue to execute our stated business objectives. The results confirmed that our properties have high concentrations of REOs and specifically Critical Rare Earth Oxides.
The Actlabs analysis confirms the existing historic data reported by the Department of Energy ("DOE"). We are now investing significant dollars this year to further the Company's position. The Lemhi Pass area is located within the continental U.S. and perfectly positioned to supply U.S. critical rare earth demand. Our properties are not on a remote island, in the Alaskan or Canadian tundra, and certainly not in remote regions of the globe, where logistics and government policies make current rare earth mining efforts highly unfavorable.
At a basic level, we intend to further capitalize our resource rich properties by creating U.S. based intellectual property for REO separation and production in an environmentally friendly way. Our goal remains to provide a full supply chain solution which will create Intellectual Property within the U.S. thus leading to the creation of American jobs, independence and sustainability for the production of critical rare earths."
Press release avilable from http://www.prnewswire.com/