American Resources’ wholly owned subsidiary ReElement Technologies received an initial certificate of occupancy for its Marion, Ind., Advanced Technology Center earlier this year. ReElement said the center will be the world’s first complete mine-to-manufacturing circular refining facility.
“This milestone is another successful step in how we are supporting the reshoring of domestic manufacturing of clean tech applications, bringing jobs back to local communities, while also refining materials that bolster our national security to eliminate the need to rely upon single-source, foreign nations for key elements used by our military. This is a monumental day for our company, and we are challenging our team to expand this site to be the largest producer of lithium carbonate and rare earth oxides in the United States over the coming years,” said Mark Jensen, CEO of American Resources and ReElement Technologies.
“Our Marion site represents an expansion of production capability for our proven technology that we currently operate in Noblesville, Ind., where we produce ultra-pure critical minerals and rare earth oxides. The company has progressed over the last three years and now are expanding our production capability based on proven technologies, commercial viability, a team and resources to bring this critical component of the supply chain back to the United States for the first time in decades.”
The 42-acre Marion Advanced Technology Center will scale up to an initially targeted production capacity of 5,000 metric tons of ultra-pure (>99.9%) lithium hydroxide or carbonate per year, and 1,000 mt/y of rare earth oxides, according to ReElement. It will also have the ability to strategically and efficiently expand production capacity by adding modular infrastructure as the market matures.
ReElement noted that the site will have rail loadout onsite along with 37 truck bays for enhanced transportation logistics, including access to major highways and interstate travel, with a central location to many potential customers within the automobile, battery and magnet industries within the U.S. battery belt.
Situated within the historic Thompson-Farnsworth-RCA facility, the ReElement Marion Advanced Technology Center is scheduled to open in 2025.
Wyoming to support American Rare Earths project
American Rare Earths said a grant proposal submitted to advance the Cowboy State Mine at Halleck Creek has been approved by the state of Wyoming. The company will receive up to A$10.7 million (or US$7.1 million) in non-dilutive funding through a three-year agreement.
“We are thrilled to receive this support from the state of Wyoming and the [Wyoming Energy Authority], which not only represents technical validation of the project by industry experts at the [University of Wyoming Energy Resources Council] and WEA, but a shared commitment to permit and develop a commercial rare earth mine and processing facility in Wyoming,” said Donald Swartz, CEO of American Rare Earths. “This grant will assist the company in expediting its project development of the Cowboy State Mine, and we are excited for things to continue to progress.”
As part of the arrangement, American Rare Earths will produce technical reporting detailing findings and recommendations for future work programs to the Wyoming Energy Authority.
With a globally significant exploration target of over 2 billion tonnes of mineralized rare earth rocks, Halleck Creek has the potential to be among the largest rare earths deposits in the U.S.
