Rare Earth elementsAccessible critical rare Earth deposit confirmed in Montana

U.S. Rare Earths, Inc. (UREE) the other day announced the results of its 2013 exploration in Lemhi Pass, Montana. The company says the results confirmed that its properties have the highest accessible rare earth deposit in North America. The initial results of the sub-surface drilling in Phase I of the Lemhi Pass exploration confirms historic data and returned higher grades of rare earths than first reported.

The exploration work will allow UREE to assess its land positions and prioritize resource exploration and development efforts. UREE has initiated an extended drilling program in Lemhi Pass, Montana based on the positive results.

The company says the results are part of the detailed work completed in Phase I on the “Last Chance Vein” property located in the southeast part of the trend. This area already has access roads and underground works two adits with tunneling over 1,500 feet (453m).

The property, located near the mining-belt of Idaho and Montana, is positioned for development of a processing facility. Full-scale mining and milling operations would create many jobs in the region.

UREE CEO Kevin Cassidy says, “Based on the success of the Phase I season drilling, I have approved the request by our lead geologist, Howard Dunn, to initiate additional drilling in the Last Chance area of Lemhi Pass. Because this area is located in the continental U.S., with highways nearby, the area is perfectly positioned to meet the domestic demand for rare earths.

The positive results from our drilling samples means that we’ll be able to secure significant amounts of much needed rare earths for domestic and global consumption without relying on mines in remote regions of the globe or be beholden to Chinese government policies.”

The 2013 UREE exploration program is completing sampling and drilling on several of its properties located in Lemhi Pass and North Fork area property holdings.

UREE notes it is working to SEC and Canadian NI43-101 standards, with state-of-art field equipment and drilling technology to validate historically reported data and define newly discovered grades and tonnages of the rare earth mineralization in a few selected areas of the Lemhi Pass area and in the relatively unexplored North Fork District, north of Salmon, Idaho.

This suite of critical rare earth metal oxides (neodymium, terbium, dysprosium, yttrium, europium, and erbium) found in the UREE-held Lemhi Pass properties reflects the economic potential of a deposit with respect to U.S. and global demand, and is based on extensive research conducted by the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Defense, JP Morgan market analysis, and research by Russian scientist V. V. Seredin.

The forecast consensus is that demand for neodymium, terbium, dysprosium, and yttrium will exceed their output.  Europium and erbium are critical metals also likely to be under-supplied.  Thus, the Critical Rare Earth “basket” in Lemhi Pass represents both the most critical and likely undersupplied rare earth metals, and where deposits with high percentages of these metals will be in a position for early development.

U.S. Rare Earths holds nearly all of the historically known rare earth element mineralization occurrences in the Lemhi Pass District and covers approximately 120 square miles of terrain along the Idaho-Montana Border. UREE holds 97 mining lode claims in Montana and Idaho covering 1680 acres (680 hectares).

Lemhi Pass was first investigated in the early 1950s for uranium and thorium for the U.S. developing market. Continued investigation, during the late 1960s and through the 1970s, by the U.S. Defense Minerals Exploration Administration (DMEA) and Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) — now the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) — identified that rare earth metals were associated with the trace amounts of thorium.