WHEATLAND — A rare earth mineral deposit near Wheatland could be the world’s richest, according to a company that owns several thousand rare earth minerals acres southwest of town.
The high-grade deposit could be even richer than initially thought, according to American Rare Earths Inc.
It seems to be what would amount to a modern day Gold Rush for rare earth elements, an industry that has long been dominated and monopolized by China.
American Rare Earths is the US-based component of an Australian founded and based exploration company that is working in Wyoming.
In early 2023, Ramaco resources announced that it had found an unusually large deposit of rare earths that could be worth upward of $37 billion.
Rare earth minerals — neodymium and praseodymium — are premium and desirable materials that are used in a variety of technology-based products such as cell phone batteries and flat screen TVs. Historically, these materials have been sent to China for processing.
Rare Earths wants to be part of changing that effort.
According to Platte County Economic Development director Tracy deRyk, this could be a windfall for the county.
“This shows real promise for potential growth in Platte County,” she said.
In a statement made to Cowboy State Daily, CEO Donald Swartz said the discovery “exceeded our wildest dreams” when they found 64% more rare earth minerals than originally suspected.
The desire for these rare earth minerals is generated by the supply-and-demand of consumers’ demand for magnet metals that are part-and-parcel to the green transition to all electric vehicles, alternative power sources (e.g., wind turbines), robots, military drones, general consumer goods, and chips required for sophisticated computing programs and power.
American Rare Earths Inc. wants to mine and process these metals via its Wyoming Rare (USA) Inc. Unit.
The Halleck Creek site is basically ground zero for the rare earth mother lode, which is west of Wheatland and northeast of Laramie; very near Interstate 25. This puts the endeavor close to operation as well as infrastructure in spite of the moderately remote Overton Mountain location.
The operation is currently working on mining permits; which can take considerable time.
State permits can take up to two to four years for approval, while federal permits can take between eight to ten years, according to deRyk.
In a recent announcement Swartz said “Halleck Creek is stacking up to become a world class project which has the strategic scale and potential to secure a stable, domestic supply of rare earth for the US for many decades.”
This story was published on March 6, 2024.
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