Rare Element Resources
Bear Lodge Project
Canadian NI 43-101 Technical Report
October 9
th
, 2014
10135-200-46 - Rev. 0
5-1
5 Accessibility, Climate, Local Resources, Infrastructure
and Physiography
5.1 Accessibility
Access to the Bear Lodge Project is good except for the winter months, when snow
storms can make travel difficult. The project area is located 7 air miles (11 kilometers)
or 12 road miles (19 kilometers) northwest of the town of Sundance, Wyoming, which
is on US Interstate Highway 90, and 22 air miles (35 kilometers) west of the South
Dakota state line. Primary access to the property is from the town of Sundance,
although good, well maintained gravel roads provide access from the west, north, and
east. The project site is reached by traveling west from Sundance about one mile
along I-90, then 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) west on US Highway 14, then north on the
paved Sundance-Warren Peaks Road (USFS road #838 and County Road 100) for
approximately 9 miles to the project area and proposed Physical Upgrade (PUG)
Plant site. Once mine operations begin, year-round road access to the mine site will
be maintained via the Sundance Miller Creek Road. Road access within the property
is relatively extensive via a number of good quality dirt logging roads and four-wheel-
drive trails that were constructed originally during logging or exploration activities, and
subsequently rehabilitated. Figure 5.1 displays the access routes to the Bear Lodge
Project.
Mineralized material from the mine will be beneficiated to create an REE mineral pre-
concentrate for shipment from the mine approximately 40 miles (64.4 kilometers)
south to Upton, Weston County, Wyoming (Township 48 North, Range 65 West) via
Wyoming highway #116. Mineral concentrate from the PUG plant will first be trucked
8 miles down the Sundance-Miller Creek road, which joins the Warren Peak road one
mile from the junction with Highway 14. The mineral concentrate will then be hauled
along Highway 116 to Upton, where the trucks will turn right on US Highway 16 for 2
miles (3.2 kilometers) then exit to the left on the Buffalo Creek road. The Hydromet
plant will be located less than a mile south of the exit from US Highway 16. At the
Upton site, the pre-concentrate will be processed through leaching, neutralization,
and precipitation to produce the final REE product. Tailings generated from
beneficiation will be dewatered, neutralized and disposed of in close proximity to the
plant. Figure 5.2 shows the Upton Hydromet project permit area, which encompasses
approximately 850 acres (344 hectares).
