The University of Kentucky has produced a heavy rare earths oxide (HREO) concentrate and light rare earths oxide (LREO) concentrate from American Rare Earths’ (ASX:ARR) allanite based ore from the Halleck Creek Project in Wyoming, US.
Results returned include 97.1% pure HREO and 96.4% pure LREO, being the first HREO and LREO produced from Halleck Creek ore.
This is under the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Environmental Microbes as a BioEngineering Resource (EMBER) project with the US Department of Defense.
American Rare Earths has provided around 840kg of Halleck Creek ore from drilling spanning 36 drillholes for the consortium processing into leachates.
Consortium members include the University of Kentucky, Lawrence Livermore National Lab, and Penn State University.
This initiative intends to promote bio-recovery and traditional solvent extraction of rare earth element oxides.
Interim CEO Joe Evers says American Rare Earths’ collaboration with the SynBREE consortium has achieved multiple significant milestones.
“The results provide a very meaningful third-party validation that light and heavy rare earths oxides can be produced from the Halleck Creek allanite hosted ore body,” Evers says.
“Both these oxides are used in the production of permanent magnets.”
American Rare Earths is continuing to test mineral processing techniques to optimise work.
American Rare Earths is a critical minerals company focused on developing the US’ rare earths industry and reducing its reliance on imports.
Write to Maddison Elliott at Mining.com.au
Images: American Rare Earths
