American Rare Earths Achieves Impurity Removal Processing Breakthrough at Halleck Creek

American Rare Earths (ASX: ARR) has announced a major breakthrough in processing its allanite-hosted rare earth ore from the Halleck Creek project in Wyoming, confirming the successful completion of impurity removal and neutralisation testing.

The results mark a critical step in the company’s hydrometallurgical test program, demonstrating that deleterious elements such as iron, aluminium, silica, and titanium can be effectively removed with minimal rare earth losses.

The work represents one of the final technical hurdles to developing a complete processing flow sheet for Halleck Creek’s large-scale rare earth resource.

High-Purity Leachate Achieved

SGS conducted the testing in Lakefield, Canada, assessing six potential neutralising agents for efficiency and cost.

Magnesium oxide was the optimal reagent, achieving more than 99% removal of impurities while maintaining almost all rare earths in solution.

The tests confirmed that troublesome by-products such as gypsum and silica gel—long-standing challenges for allanite-based systems—were minimal or absent, significantly simplifying downstream processing.

American Rare Earths said the results reduce technical and economic risks while improving projected capital and operating efficiency, and plans to incorporate them into the company’s hydrometallurgical design for the upcoming pre-feasibility study.

The company’s next stage of test work will focus on producing a mixed rare earth oxide product, which will then feed into separation testing for individual rare earth oxides used in permanent magnets.

Significant Scale and Continuuity

One of the largest known rare earth deposits in North America, Halleck Creek has already demonstrated significant scale and continuity, and the latest results strengthen its standing as a cornerstone project in the push for US rare earth independence.

Chief executive officer Mr Donald Swartz said the successful impurity removal results place American Rare Earths “one step closer to establishing a fully integrated, US-based rare earth supply chain.”

He said the company remains focused on advancing Halleck Creek through to development while maintaining environmentally responsible processing methods that avoid the hazardous waste streams common in conventional rare earth extraction.