American Resources Corp (NASDAQ:AREC) announced that its minority-held subsidiary ReElement Technologies is expanding its advanced rare earth and critical mineral laboratory capabilities as it prepares to scale operations across its multi-mineral refining platform.
American Resources said ReElement has commissioned enhanced laboratory capacity and added technical personnel to support the validation and commercialization of high-purity critical mineral products used in defense, energy, and advanced manufacturing.
The company said the expanded laboratory infrastructure builds on ReElement’s existing chromatography platform and recently filed next-generation patents. The upgrades are intended to improve the company’s ability to validate, qualify, and scale commercial production of heavy rare earth elements and other strategic minerals.
“As we enter the next phase of scaling our multi-mineral, multi-feedstock refining platform, expanding laboratory infrastructure is essential,” ReElement CEO Mark Jensen said.
He added that alongside seven recently filed patents, the company is investing across pre-processing, separation and post-processing capabilities to support quality control and commercial qualification.
Newly commissioned analytical equipment includes an X-ray diffractometer for rapid material identification, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry for trace element and isotopic analysis, inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy for multi-element quantification, and a laser diffraction particle size analyzer for materials characterization.
According to the company, the additional tools are designed to enhance precision analysis, purity verification and heavy rare earth separation validation within its proprietary chromatographic refining platform.
The expanded laboratory capacity will support commercial-scale refining programs for several materials, including gadolinium, gallium, germanium, terbium and yttrium, with targeted purities ranging from 99.5% to 99.999%.
ReElement said its chromatographic separation technology offers an alternative to traditional solvent extraction methods, which the company described as more environmentally responsible, lower cost and compact.
To support the expansion, ReElement has also added new personnel, including a PhD chemical engineer focused on pilot-scale experimentation and process development, an analytical chemist specializing in feedstock preparation and elemental analysis, a quality control manager responsible for finished goods validation and standard operating procedures, and an R&D engineer supporting commercialization of materials flowsheets.
The company said the hires are intended to strengthen operational execution and support scalable commercialization across the critical mineral value chain.
“Our objective is to continue innovating while delivering consistent, high-purity materials to meet the evolving demands of the global critical mineral supply chain,” Jensen concluded.