have an assay done for rare earth elements
from the latest
EOMA newsletter;
RARE EARTH THE NEXT GOLD RUSH? -Chuck Chase
The Northeastern part of Oregon is positioned for a minerals boom in the coming years that will equal the gold rush of the 1800’s. The rare earth elements (REEs) are found predominantly in intrusive rock. That’s molten rock that was deeply buried and never made it to the surface in the form of eruptive lava, like the basalts that cover much of Oregon. Some of the creeks and streams have quite large quantities of REEs contained in their non-magnetic black sands. Large deposits in Union County are found not only in the black sands of the placers, but also in the intrusive that are rich in REEs. In Malheur County, going south along the Owyhee River, there was extensive work done on exploration for REEs in the past, but these elements were found to be ejected and scattered by volcanic eruptions. In Baker County, REEs have been discovered in the Auburn and Camp Creek areas in quite large quantities. Both Union and Baker County deposits carry most, if not all, of the 17 different REEs. A few of these deposits are quite large and are exposed in large areas of 20 acres or more, before disappearing under soils and eroding rock debris.
Congress, in the last few years of the Obama Administration, tried to pass a Critical Minerals Bill that would have cut through the vast swamp of the permitting process to make the USA not dependent on China as a source of REEs China has been going all over the world and acquiring most of the REE producing mines, thus, cornering the world market. The REEs are so important in all aspects of electronics, for hybrid cars, wind turbines, aerospace, photovoltaic thin film, and military high tech. Our entire society is so intertwined with REEs, that we can’t do without a secure supply. With that being said, if Congress does pass a Critical Minerals Bill, wouldn’t it be great as a placer miner, to slide into mining REEs with your gold as a bi product, thus, bi-passing a ton of permitting?
Most of the REEs produced at a mine site are collected as an oxide of that metal, and are sent to a refiner to be converted to metal. The REE’ price indexes are listed in kilograms, one kilogram equals 2.20 pounds, or equals 1000 grams. Some of these rare earths, such as Scandium metal, were listed at around $18,000 a kilogram a few years ago. The scandium oxide was $7,200 a kilogram. When you add all of the REEs found in this part of Oregon together, you start to understand the enormity of the REE mineral potential just in Baker and Union counties.
ASSYING FOR REES-Chuck Chase
Most of my assay work has been done on working with water, where I first got interested in the REEs. While collecting ion’s and colloidal of gold, silver and pgm out of water, I found I also was collecting REEs in my water collection concentrate. Ken Anderson and I conducted exploration on REE deposits in Baker and surrounding counties, but we had only little success. A lot of teasers, but there are properties that really have the possibility of becoming large mining operations.
In the back of the newsletter in the For Sale Directory there is a listing for ALS Minerals in Vancouver B.C. Canada. You can email Katerina Paley for a quote both for gold, silver and pgm but also for REEs. The only drawback is, it is almost a month turnaround to get your assay returned, but on the good side they are cheaper and more reliable than most of the other assayers. When I first started using them, I sent them a split of the same material to see just how accurate they were Both were almost carbon copies of each other. Her email is
KaterinaPaley@ALSGlobal.com
