The EMBER program funded by DARPA, that ARR shareholders hope...

The EMBER program funded by DARPA, that ARR shareholders hope will create a paradigm shift in the processing of rare earths, is made up of three phases with the first phase completing in January 2024. So how did that go?

According to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) Lab Report dated 26 January 2024, the project has been selected to advance to the next phase of study. Going back to the ARR announcement of 22 January 2024 re: breakthrough metallurgical results, my own reading is that the news is contained within Dr Yongqin Jiao's comment about protein-based rare earth separation technologies continue to be advanced.

So what does it all mean? The hope of that biomining paradigm shift is very much alive. The initial funding for Phase 1 was US$4m and with the green light it appears that an additional US$9m will become available subject to performance. Phase 2 involves shifting the focus to improving the efficiency and scale of separating rare earths from source rocks. Critically the LLNL consortium has established proof of concept that microbe systems can be exploited for exquisite selectivity and specificity to develop scalable processes for REE separation and purification.

ARR is simply along for the ride. They could go down conventional processing pathways but the door is wide open to become the chief beneficiary of innovative biomining processes which will go a long way towards Halleck Creek becoming an American household name just like the Comstock Lode.