by Michael Howell
U.S. Critical Materials, the Salt Lake City based company that is proposing to mine Rare Earth Elements (REE) in the headwaters of the West Fork of the Bitterroot River, announced in a December 4, 2024 press release that Phase One of the company’s Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has been completed. This phase involved studying, testing, and confirming the gallium and other critical minerals content at the U.S. Critical Materials Sheep Creek Deposit.
“Simultaneously,” it states in the release, “INL had a team of scientists, engineers, lab technicians, and critical mineral experts begin to explore ways to create a separation and process system for the Sheep Creek ore. The next phase is being structured to cover the next 2 years of continued development of multiple separation and processing technologies.” The U.S. currently has no separation and processing technology.
According to the press release, the Scope of Work of the CRADA between U.S. Critical Materials and INL includes identification of materials handling, beneficiation, and separations technologies for carbonatite ore handling, preparation, and extraction of targeted, value-added metals.
“The U.S. has very little commercial rare earth processing capabilities,” said Jim Hedrick, President of U.S. Critical Materials. “This research agreement, and the tech that will be developed, will help advance U.S. rare earth processing proficiency. Not only is our gallium high grade, but we are also confident that working together with Idaho National Laboratory, we will be able to create a proprietary separation process that will be environmentally respectful.”
Gallium is one of the three critical minerals, along with germanium and antimony, that China has recently banned from exporting to the United States. A recent article by Bowen West (NBC Montana, Dec. 25 2024) discussing China’s recent embargo quotes Atlantic Council China Hub Nonresident Senior Fellow Dexter Roberts saying, “China is very aware that the U.S. is very reliant on Chinese critical minerals and this would be a good way to hit back against the U.S. … What we’re seeing right now is a tit for tat retaliation between China and the U.S.”
The U.S. isn’t alone on this front, according to West. The past two years has seen the formation of the Minerals Security Partnership, with Australia, Canada, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Norway, Republic of Korea, Sweden, United Kingdom and the United States creating a network to share access to a critical mineral supply chain.
According to data from Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology, gallium is a byproduct of aluminum (Al) and zinc (Zn) mining, with zinc ores being the main source. Recycling also plays an important role.
Potential domestic resources in zinc ores are primarily from sphalerite deposits and sphalerite-bearing skarn and polymetallic vein deposits, which are found in Western Montana, particularly in the Butte and Philipsburg areas.
West quotes Montana Bureau of Mines and Technology Director John Metesh saying, “We’ve all convinced ourselves that the critical mineral list isn’t just a list of possibilities but they’re becoming probabilities. The opportunities because of this are really exciting.” West mentions U.S. Critical Materials and Bolt Metals Corporation as two companies seeking to take advantage of these opportunities but states that when NBC Montana reached out to both companies for information on future mining projects they were denied interviews.
West goes on to quote Metesh saying that other countries “can produce things much cheaper but at what cost? A very high environmental cost but then also, their labor force has no personal protection and things like that.” West goes on to note that Montana is playing a part with old mines bringing new opportunities of reprocessing waste.
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