Utah rare earths find significant for America

A Utah-based mining company says it has discovered a massive deposit of rare earths and other critical minerals, calling it potentially “one of North America’s most significant” finds to date.

Ionic Mineral Technologies — also known as Ionic MT — revealed last week that assays from its fully permitted Silicon Ridge project in Utah confirmed it as a halloysite-hosted ion-adsorption clay (IAC) system, where mineral extraction is easier than conventional “hard-rock” geological systems. 

According to the company, IAC represents the same geological formation that supplies about 35-40% of China’s total rare earth production and over 70% of the world’s heavy rare earth elements. The wider project is due for a preliminary economic assessment next year. 

Ionic MT also characterized the deposit as an “IAC-Plus” profile, referring to the magmatically enriched grades of not only rare earths but also a suite of critical minerals including gallium, germanium, rubidium, cesium, scandium, lithium, vanadium, tungsten and niobium.

Production-ready

The discovery is a “watershed moment” for America’s resource independence, said Andre Zeitoun, founder and CEO of Ionic MT.

“For the first time, we have a domestic, shovel-ready source for a full spectrum of critical minerals, all extractable with a faster, cleaner process than traditional hard rock mining and extraction,” he said in a Dec. 12 release.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal last week, he said the Silicon Ridge project’s size, number of elements and road links may make it the country’s most significant critical mineral reserve. The project hosts as many as 16 different elements used in key applications, ranging from AI semiconductor chips and permanent magnets to defence surveillance systems and energy technologies.

Importantly, as noted by Zeitoun, the project already has mining permits in place, supplemented by an existing 74,000-square-foot (6,875-sq. metre) processing facility in Provo, where the company is headquartered. This would enable “a rapid timeline to commercial production,” it said.

The project and processing facility are part of Ionic MT’s vertically integrated business model centered on converting a single halloysite clay feedstock from its Silicon Ridge and Halloysite Hills projects into three high-value, co-product streams: critical minerals, high-purity alumina and nano-silicon.

High grades

The discovery at Silicon Ridge follows an extensive exploration program by ISO-certified ALS Chemex laboratories, which analyzed assays from 106 boreholes (over 10,000 metres) and 35 trenches across a 650-acre (263-hectare) area of the project.

Initial results showed a combined rare earth and critical metal grade of about 2,700 parts per million (ppm) or 0.27%. This grade, Ionic MT claims, “compares favourably” to Chinese ion-adsorption clay deposits, which typically range from 500 to 2,000 ppm.

Importantly, the critical minerals grade was confirmed across only 11% of the total resource area and is limited to 100-foot  (30-metre) depth, indicating significant potential for expansion, it said.