American Rare Earths Ltd (ASX:ARR, OTCQB:ARRNF) continues to build its North American presence and in the latest development has opened its new US headquarters at Lakewood in the Denver area of Colorado.
This location at which the new US executive management team will be based, will give the company proximity to its flagship operation in Halleck Creek, Wyoming.
US executive management
The new team includes Donald S Swartz II as chief executive officer (CEO), Jose Rico as chief financial officer (CFO) and Dwight Kinnes as chief technical officer (CTO).
Swartz has more than 20 years of leadership experience in the domestic and international resource sector and is a highly skilled mining executive.
READ: American Rare Earths names Donald S Swartz II as new CEO as it trains sights on US expansion
Before joining American Rare Earths, he was with Vista Energy Holdings, which developed two mining projects, both now fully operational in Alberta and Nova Scotia, Canada.
CFO Rico has more than 22 years of corporate finance and accounting experience across both US domestic and international operations.
Prior to joining American Rare Earths, he was global head of Management Company Finance at Resource Capital Funds.
CTO Kinnes has more than 35 years of experience as a technical geologist, working on mining projects across the US and around the world.
Board additions
Also, as part of building its American presence, ARR added three new highly skilled American professionals to its board - Kenneth H Traub, John G Mansanti and Paul Zink.
READ: American Rare Earths extends US presence with appointment of industry veteran as non-executive director
Zink, who lives in the Denver area, is a Professor of Practice at the Colorado School of Mines.
“The Denver area is a dynamic mining market and we will have access to its talent as we build out our flagship operation,” said CEO Donald S Swartz.
Focus on critical minerals
American Rare Earths is committed to becoming a top supplier of critical minerals.
The company is a leading explorer of rare earth projects, with a strong focus on developing sustainable and cost-effective extraction and processing methods.
To meet the rapidly increasing demand for resources essential to the clean energy transition and US national security, the company is engaged in advanced study and continued exploration of its 100%-owned rare earth element projects rich in the magnet elements of neodymium and praseodymium at Halleck Creek in Albany County, Wyoming and La Paz, Arizona.
Large-scale potential
Both projects have the potential to be among North America’s largest rare earth deposits. The Halleck Creek deposit was recently identified by Mining.com as fifth in the world’s top rare earth projects.
A recently released maiden JORC resource report for Halleck Creek shows 1.43 billion tonnes of in-place TREO, 4.73 million tonnes TREO containing approximately 1.05 million tonnes of the highly desirable magnet metals neodymium and praseodymium.
The Halleck Creek deposit is about 70 kilometres northeast of Laramie encompassing portions of Albany and Platte counties in Wyoming.
ARR continues to evaluate other exploration opportunities and is collaborating with US Government-supported R&D to develop efficient processing and separation techniques of rare earth elements to help ensure a renewable future.