American Rare Earths Ltd (ASX:ARR) US-based subsidiary Western Rare Earths is the sole industry member invited to a research and development consortium led by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL).
The consortium has been awarded research funding by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop scalable, bio-based separation and purification methods for rare earth elements (REE) from under-used domestic sources.
DARPA’s Environmental Microbes as a BioEngineering Resource (EMBER) program has charged the consortium to deliver multiple approaches and processes, with a viable scheme to be supported by techno-economic analyses and culminate in an aggressive, proof-of-concept pilot-scale REE biomining operation.
Technology could accelerate permitting process
“We are honoured to have our US technical and management team collaborate with the leading researchers on cutting-edge technologies,” American Rare Earths CEO and managing director Chris Gibbs said.
“Rare earths separation and purification would benefit from a new tech stack combined with traditional mineral processing approaches.
“A renewable, reusable, sustainable approach will meet fewer permitting hurdles.”
The consortium team led by LLNL was awarded an initial US$4 million (~A$5.576 million) in the first tranche of funding, with a further US$9 million (~A$12.547 million) available in follow-on phases based on performance.
ARR has provided feedstock from its La Paz and Halleck Creek Rare Earth projects to researchers.
The REE mineralisation from ARR’s deposits hosts simple mineralisation, accessible from surface, with high-value magnet REEs of more than 24% total REE content and all 14 naturally occurring lanthanides.