The reports out of Western Rare Earths this year just kept getting better.
Whatever waited underground at its southeastern Wyoming property had a lot of promise, the company knew. That much became clear early on. But the prospects grew along with the scope of the find.
“This mineral deposit had never been drilled, until we drilled it this year to really understand that third dimension of depth,” said Marty Weems, president of Western Rare Earths. “If the thing was 100 feet deep, we would’ve been ecstatic. And at this point, not only is it 100 feet deep, we’re going 100 meters, 150 meters.”
The company is one of two working to mine rare earth elements, a category of resources used in technologies like smartphones and electric vehicles, in Wyoming. Both companies, encouraged by rising support in Washington behind strengthening U.S. supply chains, have made a lot of progress this year.
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Western Rare Earths announced positive preliminary results in May. Chris Gibbs, CEO of parent company American Rare Earths, said in a statement at the time that its Halleck Creek site, north of Laramie, “may become one of the largest rare earths projects” in the country.
In a separate statement four months later, Gibbs called the initial drilling campaign “a resounding success” with results far surpassing the company’s expectations.
By mid-December, Western Rare Earths had found another reason to celebrate: The rock containing the rare earth elements it sought looked to be unusually easy to crush and grind, lowering the project’s anticipated operating costs and making it more competitive with mines already in operation.
The numbers are still fuzzy, Weems said. Once all the data has been collected from the newly finished drilling campaign, the company will be able to plug its results from the year into a more thorough economic analysis.
“Assuming all of it goes well, I would see us potentially doing another phase of exploration drilling, maybe in the second half of the year,” he said.
Rare Element Resources, meanwhile, has had a quieter year. The company has been studying the rare earths at its northeastern Wyoming site for a long time. Its focus now is on building a demonstration-scale processing facility in Upton that it will test using ore already extracted from its own Bear Lodge project.
The Wyoming Energy Authority, which views rare earths as a major opportunity for the state, gave $4.4 million to Rare Element Resources in November to support permitting and construction at the demonstration plant. The company previously secured a Department of Energy grant worth more than $20 million that will cover half the project’s costs.
“We’re obviously excited about our project and the steps we’re taking to really serve as a cornerstone for the future of the rare earth industry in Wyoming,” CEO Brent Berg told the Star-Tribune after the Wyoming grant was announced. “We believe there’s no state in the U.S. more capable of producing rare earths, that has a more desirable business climate, than Wyoming.”
Commercialization is a ways off for both mines, and for Rare Element Resources’ processing technology, no matter how well the next few years go. But the companies and the state are forging ahead.
