American Rare Earths Ltd (ASX:ARR, OTCQX:ARRNF) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with US rare earth metallurgy specialist Novex LLC to advance the conversion of rare earth oxides from its Halleck Creek Project in Wyoming into metals used in permanent magnets.
The agreement, signed through wholly owned subsidiary Wyoming Rare (USA) Inc, establishes a framework covering process optimisation, metallisation of material from American Rare Earths' planned demonstration plant and the joint design of a domestic rare earth metal production facility.
The companies are targeting a definitive long-term collaboration and supply agreement within 12 months, although the current MoU is non-binding apart from confidentiality and governing law provisions.
ARR is targeting a NASDAQ listing as it positions the Halleck Creek Rare Earths Project to benefit from growing US demand for domestically sourced critical minerals.
Main highlights
Under the MoU, Novex is expected to receive neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr) oxide produced from Halleck Creek material and convert it into rare earth metal suitable as a precursor for permanent magnet manufacturing.
The companies will also assess process improvements for recovering and qualifying NdPr, terbium, dysprosium, samarium and yttrium, while examining options for producing heavy rare earth oxide samples for metallurgical testing.
A broader objective is to establish a US-based supply chain extending from Halleck Creek feedstock through refining, separation and metallisation to permanent magnet applications.
The partnership follows American Rare Earths' review of oxide-to-metal technologies, which identified high-temperature molten salt electrolysis as its preferred development route, subject to further validation. The review also identified other workable approaches, including fluoride conversion followed by calciothermic reduction and lanthanothermic reduction.
American Rare Earths chief executive officer Mark Wall said the agreement represented an important step toward the company's aim of developing a vertically integrated US mine-to-magnet supply chain.
Halleck Creek at centre of Wyoming value chain
Halleck Creek hosts a JORC-compliant mineral resource of about 2.63 billion tonnes and is described by the company as the largest known US deposit by total contained rare earth oxides.
The project is situated entirely on Wyoming State land and has previously attracted a non-binding letter of interest from the US Export-Import Bank for potential funding of up to US$456 million.
The Novex agreement extends American Rare Earths' development strategy beyond mining and separation into the metallisation stage of the supply chain.
Novex operates an advanced technology development centre in Bellingham, Washington, and has worked on oxide-to-metal technologies through projects funded by US government agencies.
Next steps
American Rare Earths and Novex will establish technical working groups and conduct regular progress reviews as they refine process specifications, product purity requirements, potential production volumes and engineering parameters for a future metal production facility.
The parties intend to use commercially reasonable efforts to agree the structure and terms of a definitive long-term collaboration and supply agreement within 12 months.
