American Rare Earths managing director Chris Gibbs told MINING.COM the game changer is the chemical composition of the feedstock they are supplying.“There are a number of research programs or organizations seeking funding from the US Defense Research Projects Agency (DARPA) looking at breakthrough technology and research for rare earths processing — what’s exciting about this is these organizations are using our feedstock, and what makes our projects unique is that our stock is low on thorium, a highly radioactive element, which is found at most other rare earth projects,” Gibbs said. American Rare Earths’ subsidiary is one of two rare earth miners to be with the group, the other is Rio Tinto. “Our feedstock at La Paz, and also at Halleck Creek are low on thorium content, so when it comes to the bioengineering programs that some of this research is looking at… at the highly radioactive ore from other locations, there are a lot of folks who are interested in using and trialing our material for their respective processes – it’s what makes us a bit unique with the projects we have.” QUOTE This article is a year old but highlights the tremendous advantage ARR has going forward now that the US administration is being proactive IMO
