(Oil Price)– A Utah company has unearthed a massive deposit of critical minerals, describing it as potentially “one of North America’s most significant” finds to date. According to Ionic Minerals Technology, assays from its Silicon Ridge project in Utah have confirmed the presence of 16 critical minerals, including germanium and gallium, in the halloysite-hosted ion-adsorption clay (IAC) system, a geological system that’s easier to extract minerals from compared to the conventional hard-rock.
Located in Provo, less than 20 miles south of Utah’s Silicon Slopes, the IAC geological formation supplies more than 70% of the world’s heavy rare earth elements and 35-40% of China’s total rare earth production. The deposit also harbors lithium, rubidium, scandium, cesium, tungsten, vanadium and niobium.
Ionic MT CEO and founder Andre Zeitoun says the project already has mining permits in place, which will be supplemented by the company’s 74,000-square-foot processing facility at its headquarters in Provo, enabling rapid development.
“For the first time, we have a domestic, shovel-ready source for a full spectrum of critical minerals, all extractable with a faster, cleaner process than traditional hard rock mining and extraction,” Zeitoun stated in a press release.
According to initial exploratory results by ISO-certified ALS Chemex laboratories, the deposit is a combination of rare earths and critical metals at a concentration of ~ 2,700 parts per million (ppm) or 0.27%. According to Ionic MT, this grade compares favorably to Chinese IAC deposits, which typically range from 500 to 2,000 ppm. However, the critical minerals grade has been confirmed across just 11% of the total resource area at a depth of not more than 100 feet, indicating significant potential for expansion.
