Harena eyes California rare earth, uranium assets

Harena Rare Earths (LSE: HREE) is looking to expand into the US by acquiring critical minerals exploration projects in California, where the country’s only producing rare earth mine is situated.

On Monday, the London-listed miner said it has entered an exclusivity agreement to buy a portfolio of heavy rare earth and uranium assets in San Bernardino County.

The agreement represents a potential opportunity to further Harena’s ambition to be part of the solution to the US government’s critical minerals strategy, the company said in a statement.

These assets, currently held by a company called Paradigm Critical Minerals, are strategically located close to MP Materials’ (NYSE: MP) Mountain Pass mine, currently the only operating rare earth mine in North America.

The County itself hosts the most mines and mining claims in the state of California, due in part to its favorable geology and supportive regulatory framework, Harena noted.

Broadened exposure

“These assets represent an exciting opportunity for Harena to broaden its exposure to the international critical minerals exploration and development story,” said Allan Mulligan, executive technical director of Harena.

The company has been solely focused on its Ampasindava ionic clay rare earth project in Madagascar, where it has so far defined a mineral resource of 699 million tonnes at 868 ppm total rare earth oxides (TREO) containing 606,000 tonnes of TREO.

“There are so many under-explored and under-realized deposits that need to be properly assessed and evaluated, and few are better located than these permits,” Mulligan added.

Historical drilling

Originally developed as a gold and silver operation, the assets were later drilled for uranium, with rare earths more recently identified at the site.

Based upon highly encouraging historical drilling results, these assets have the potential to be one of the highest-grade rare earth projects in the US, Harena said, while highlighting that past sampling results returned up to 2% TREO, including elevated heavy rare earth values.

The area remains largely underexplored and has never been exposed to a modern systematic exploration program. As such, there is clear scope for rapid advancement through modern mapping, sampling, trenching, geophysics and drilling, the company added.

For its uranium potential, Harena identified geological analogies with established deposits, including the Bancroft district in Canada, the Midnite mine in the US, and the Rössing and Husab mines in Namibia. Reported historical drill intercepts include 30.3 metres at 0.37% U₃O₈e (uranium oxide equivalent), with internal higher-grade zones of up to 10% U₃O₈e.

“The assets have already delivered strong results for heavy rare earths and uranium and are located within one of California’s most established and prospective mining districts,” Harena’s executive chairman Ivan Murphy said.

Under the terms of the agreement, Harena will conduct technical, legal and commercial due diligence on these assets, with a view to progressing towards a definitive transaction should the results meet its criteria.