Bayan Mining and Minerals Makes Strategic Expansion with New Land Claims in US Rare Earths Hotspot

Bayan Mining and Minerals (ASX: BMM) has made a strategic move to expand its land holding in one of the USA’s hottest rare earth, precious and critical minerals exploration locations.

The company has filed staking applications for 45 federal lode claims covering approximately 3.75 square kilometres along the same regional corridor as both the Mountain Pass rare earth element (REE) mine and the Colosseum gold mine in California’s Mojave Desert.

The new claims also complement Bayan’s existing Desert Star project, bringing the company’s total landholding to 117 lode claims in the high-profile mineral belt.

Central Location

The Desert Star North tenement is located just 85km from Las Vegas, near existing infrastructure, including power transmission lines servicing the Mountain Pass mine and a Union Pacific rail line, providing potential future access for bulk transport and energy supply as the project advances.

The tenement sits within a northwest-trending crustal-scale corridor, flanked by two major regional structures recognised as key controls on mineralisation in the region, including at Mountain Pass and Colosseum.

Bayan noted that while it is yet to map REE-bearing carbonatite and ultrapotassic intrusives within the Desert Star North tenement, they do occur elsewhere in the region.

“Confirming the presence of such intrusions or other favourable mineralising systems will be a central objective of upcoming exploration, including geological mapping, structural interpretation, geochemical sampling, and ground-based radiometric surveys,” the company said when announcing the tenement expansion.

Upcoming Exploration

Executive director Fadi Diab said Bayan would include the expanded ground package in its ongoing exploration strategy, of which a desktop study is already in progress and reconnaissance mapping and geochemical sampling to commence soon.

“The addition of Desert Star North significantly strengthens Bayan’s position in what is emerging as one of the most prospective critical mineral corridors in the US,” Mr Diab said.

“Located just 3km north of the Colosseum Gold mine and along the same structural trend as Mountain Pass, it offers compelling potential for both rare earth and gold discoveries.”

“While the geology remains underexplored, the combination of favourable structure, stratigraphy, and proximity to two major deposits makes this a high-priority target—our exploration strategy is designed to methodically unlock this potential.”