Rare Element Resources
The Bear Lodge Project is positioned to be a major North American source of rare earth elements (REEs). The quality and quantity of the mineralization at Bear Lodge make it a world-class mining district and a dependable, long-term source for the REEs that technology demands.
The Project is rich in the REEs critical to high-strength permanent magnet manufacturing and are higher-valued and expected to experience faster demand growth and better price support over the long term. It is situated in one of the best mining districts in the world. The mine site is ideally located in northeastern Wyoming, just off of I-90, and has easy access to power and supporting infrastructure. The processing facility will be located nearby, in the town of Upton, Wyoming, in an established industrial area. Both communities contain a ready workforce, skilled in natural resource development.
Exploration at Bear Lodge began in 1972 with a focus on copper and molybdenum but soon shifted to rare earth elements (REEs) after their economic potential was recognized. The U.S. Geological Survey confirmed the area as one of the largest REE resources in the U.S., though early efforts by Molycorp stalled due to weak markets. From 1987 to 1991, Hecla Mining identified key deposits like Bull Hill and Whitetail Ridge while exploring for REEs and gold. Rare Element Resources resumed REE exploration in 2004, drilling nearly 500 holes totaling over 285,000 feet and identifying multiple target zones. This work greatly advanced the geological understanding of the area and will support future resource development.
The Bear Lodge Mountains are part of the Black Hills Uplift, formed by the intrusion of a Tertiary-aged alkaline igneous complex during the waning stages of the Late Cretaceous-early Tertiary Laramide Orogeny. The uplift has a northwesterly orientation and extends from the western South Dakota – Nebraska border through northeastern Wyoming into south-eastern Montana. The exposed basement consists of Archean and Proterozoic schist, gneiss, and granite overlain by Paleozoic and Mesozoic clastic and carbonate sedimentary rocks that were subsequently eroded from higher elevations. The Paleozoic and Mesozoic rocks were subjected to large-scale monoclinal folding that encircles the Black Hills Uplift. Younger Oligocene, Miocene, and Pliocene sediments overlie the older sedimentary and igneous rocks at lower elevations of the uplift.
The Bear Lodge mining district is in the Bear Lodge Mountains, near the western end of the northern Black Hills intrusive belt. The Bear Lodge Mountains expose and are underlain by multiple alkaline plugs, sills and dikes intruded into Archean basement and Paleozoic and Mesozoic sediments approximately 38 to 51 million years ago, forming an elongate, northwest-trending dome.
The Bear Lodge REE deposits are sited near the axis of the elongate dome and are associated with carbonatite and silicocarbonatite dikes, veins, and stockwork hosted by the Bull Hill and Whitetail diatremes. The northwest alignment of diatremes extends from Bull Hill through Whitetail Ridge to Carbon Hill and coincides with numerous north- to northwest-striking alkalic dikes and mineralized zones.
Carbonatite and silicocarbonatite dikes strike northwesterly to northerly and intrude diatremal heterolithic breccias and surrounding trachyte, phonolite and igneous intrusion breccias. Within the Bear Lodge deposit, the dikes are concentrated within the margins of the diatreme and in adjacent wall rocks along the northwest corridor, extending from the south and west flanks of Bull Hill through the Whitetail diatreme towards the Carbon Hill diatreme. The carbonatite bodies range in size from veinlets to dikes that can reach more than 15 meters in width. A swarm of wide, steeply dipping carbonatite dikes cut across the southwestern flank of Bull Hill. The dike swarm has been traced over 300 meters along strike and down dip, and it remains open in the down dip direction. Rare earth-bearing minerals within the carbonatites are mainly ancylite and rare earth fluorocarbonates of the bastnaesite group.
The proposed operations outlined below for the Bear Lodge Project are based on economic work completed in 2014 and 2015 and updated in 2024. The proposed operations are under review in 2025 and may be modified significantly by data generated from the planned demonstration plant, which will confirm the scalability of the Company’s innovative recovery/separation technology.
As previously proposed, operations could consist of the following:
Mining
The proposed mining operation would involve small-scale open pit methods at the Bull Hill deposit initially, resulting in a near 30 year mine life. Further resource targets have been identified, including at Whitetail Ridge, where rare earth mineralization begins just below the surface. Conventional truck and excavator techniques would be used, with topsoil and overburden removed and stored for future reclamation. Blasting may be needed to break up large ore blocks, which would then be hauled to designated stockpiles. Mining would progress in expanding benches to an average depth of about 500 feet, with total land disturbance on public lands estimated at around 260 acres over the life of the mine.
Physical Upgrade (PUG) Plant
The proposed PUG Plant would concentrate rare earth minerals by removing barren rock using a closed, water-efficient system involving crushing, washing, screening, and magnetic sorting. Initially, high-grade ore that doesn't require upgrading would be processed. Over time, mid- and high-grade ores would be processed, while lower-grade material would be stockpiled. Designed to handle varying ore types, the PUG Plant aims to maximize rare earth recovery and grade while reducing the volume of material transported daily to the Hydromet Plant.
Hydrometallurgical (Hydromet) Plant
The proposed Hydromet Plant may be located in Upton, WY—about 40 miles from the mine—would process mineral concentrate delivered from the PUG Plant using a proprietary flowsheet developed by the company and its partners. It aims to produce marketable rare earth materials, including neodymium/praseodymium (Nd/Pr), a SEG concentrate (samarium, europium, gadolinium), and a heavy rare earth concentrate. Designed as a “zero discharge” facility, the plant would recycle most chemicals and water to minimize environmental impact and costs. Tailings would be treated and stored nearby, and isolated thorium would be sent to a licensed off-site disposal facility.
RER recognizes the need for the rapid exploration and development of rare earth projects to help meet growing domestic demand and realizes it must be done to minimize the impact to human health and the environment.
Therefore, RER will conduct exploration and mine development activities to ensure that:
Over the last several years, RER has collected baseline environmental data and identified actions that can help mitigate the impact of its operations on the environment. Steps that have been identified include:
Reclamation is the process of restoring land that has been disturbed by mining activity to a similar pre-mining topography and prior land use or an alternative beneficial use agreed upon by project stakeholders. The preparation and planning for mine reclamation activities occurs as part of the environmental assessment and permitting process. Throughout the life of the mine, reclamation activities will be ongoing, with the majority being undertaken once mining is completed.
Click to view the most recent technical report on RER’s Bear Lodge Project or our corporate presentation and overview of the Bear Lodge Project.
The length of time that the mine will be operating will be determined after completion of an economic evaluation that will incorporate data generated from operating the planned Demonstration Plant. While extensive drilling and geological data exists on the project, a definitive economic study will need to be competed to determine mineral reserves, a preferred mine plan, economics and projected mine life.
National forests are public lands and by law are available for multiple uses, such as mining. Federal mining laws allow development of mines and quarries as long as their development, operation and closure meet all applicable federal laws and regulations.
The Company and its technology partners are committed to the planned construction and operation of the Demonstration Plant. This work will generate information critical to determining the nature of a potential commercial scale plant. During construction of the Demonstration Plant, the majority of workers will be contracted. During operation of the Demonstration Plant, direct employment is expected to be between 10 and 15 workers due to the smaller scale of the operation. Some of those employees will be from the Company’s technology partners. It is expected that some of the Demonstration Plant employees would transition to a potential commercial plant. A mining and processing operation would require engineers, chemical plant operators, drivers, mechanics, accountants, general laborers, and administrative support personnel. Whenever possible, the Company is committed to hiring locally.
Project transportation will be similar to traffic that exist throughout Wyoming today and will be regulated by the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WDOT). Other community and social impacts from the project will require an evaluation and permit from the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, Industrial Siting Division (WDEQ-ISD) They will also determine any additional infrastructure necessary to support the Project within Crook, Weston and other neighboring Wyoming counties.
The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) will consider recreational use alternatives in preparation of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The mine area, consisting of both public and private land (approximately 1,700 acres), is not expected to be open during mining operations to recreation for safety reasons.
The Company completed five years of baseline studies in which no threatened or endangered species were identified within the project area at Bull Hill or Upton. Additional work will be undertaken once mine permitting activities resume.
Results from hydraulic surface testing has indicated that neither public nor private groundwater resources will be impacted as a result of mining activities. It is expected that additional work will be undertaken as part of the resumption of the EIS process. As part of that process, the Company and regulatory agencies will work to identify mitigation measures for protection of surface and groundwater through drainage and sediment control features. Continued monitoring throughout operations and post closure will help ensure the effectiveness of the mitigation measures.
Mine tailings are the material that remain after the rare earth material is extracted. Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (WDEQ) will direct the reclamation criteria for this material.
All dust generating devices would be outfitted with dust suppression and/or collecting bag houses. Emissions from the equipment would be captured and cleaned in a scrubber system before being vented. The system will be designed to recover and recycle the majority of the water and chemical used in the processing.
The recovery of rare earth elements would utilize hydrochloric, nitric and oxalic acids, ammonium hydroxide and sodium carbonate. These chemicals will be managed in accordance with applicable local, State, and Federal safety regulations and requirements and will not represent any danger to the public.
Exposure estimates for the general public residing near the Bull Hill Mine and Upton Plant Site indicate that radiation exposure will be similar to background radiation levels and within the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (USNRC) public health standards.
The processing of the material at the plant would result in the concentration of uranium and thorium greater than the USNRC regulatory threshold of 0.05%, which is the level that triggers the need for a license.
WDEQ reclamation criteria have a stated goal of reestablishing the surface to its pre-mining land use. It is our expectation that top soil will be stored and returned to areas of ground disturbance. Reclamation, where possible, will take place concurrent with operations and will be expected to be completed within two years of closure. Monitoring will continue following closure and reclamation until stabilization of soil, vegetation and water has been reached. Specific reclamation details will be determined as part of the EIS process.
WDEQ determines the amount of the reclamation bond. The amount will be updated annually over the life of the mine. The WDEQ updates unit rates for reclamation activities on an annual basis to adjust for inflation and contingency amounts.
No, there will be no impact to Devils Tower. Bear Lodge is located 22 miles from Devils Tower. Expected blasting will be localized and directed into the rock in a vertical direction. The rock is oxidized and softer, so blasting will be minimal.
The modern, highly regulated mines in 21st century America are in no way comparable to mines in China. America has the strictest federal and state environmental requirements in the world. Environmental protection is a top priority, which is why the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process is so comprehensive. China, on the other hand, is just starting to acknowledge environmental concern and place greater controls on their mining industry. Rare Element Resources is committed to conducting mine development, operations and reclamation, as well as plant operations in Upton, in a manner ensuring the highest degree of safety and environmental stewardship.