ARR is running for a few reasons: "breakthrough" metallurgical studies, large resource upgrade, and a WSJ article that appeared on Friday. The WSJ article exaggerates the case by claiming ARR's Wyoming asset will solve the US rare earth supply security problem. I think that is a bit premature as a scoping study has not been completed . How many pre-scoping study projects go on to production? It is around 1%. It turns out the WSJ article was written by an historian and not a mining journalist so perhaps that explains the over-exuberance.
I missed ARR completely and would have also missed a similar situation with RDM's "breakthrough" metallurgy announcement a week later if it wasn't pointed out by Jimmyspeckled. So I own shares in RDM and not ARR.
Barry FitzGerald has done an interview with RDM and written a short article which mentions both ARR and RDM. They are both well worth seeking out.
My own view is that ARR's performance on Friday was due to the WSJ article and there is a possibility it may retrace somewhat. The market cap is now around $160 million. RDM, in my view, may continue to outperform because RDM has more modest market cap of $52 million (of which $18 million is shares held in MMA).
There are similarities of both stocks that are worth mentioning: amenable to heap leaching similar to ionic clays, zero strip ratio, proximity to mining towns, pre-scoping study although ARR is more advanced, both have $5-6 million cash.
This is just meant as a bit of a discussion starter and I have also disclosed my own bias.
