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A mainly sunny sky. High 71F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph.
A mostly clear sky. Low around 40F. Winds light and variable.
A mainly sunny sky. High near 85F. Winds light and variable.
A pump jack in open ground at an oil extraction site.
A pump jack in open ground at an oil extraction site.
CASPER — Optimism is mounting at one of Wyoming’s nascent rare earths projects.
Early drilling results suggest the Halleck Creek deposit north of Laramie is larger than anticipated, and may rank among the most promising potential mines in the world, Western Rare Earths announced Sept. 1.
The company, a U.S. subsidiary of Australian exploration company American Rare Earths, acquired Halleck Creek a little over a year ago. It figured, from surface data, that the deposit’s roughly 350 million metric tons of mineralized rock contained up to a million metric tons of rare earths.
During preliminary drilling this spring, the company discovered that the rare earths extend farther east and deeper underground than it anticipated.
It has since expanded its estimate to encompass over a billion metric tons of mineralized rock and closer to 2 million metric tons of rare earths.
“The Halleck Creek project is shaping up to become a world class asset. The maiden drill campaign was a resounding success, and the new exploration target is massive,” Chris Gibbs, managing director and CEO of American Rare Earths, said in a written statement.
For rare earths, those numbers are huge.
A collection of 17 elements required for everything from smartphones to electric vehicles, rare earths are — despite their name — relatively common in nature.