U.S. Critical Materials has confirmed what it calls the highest-grade deposit of neodymium, a rare earth element used in electric motors, ever reported in the United States.
The Salt Lake City-based company said Thursday that its prime Sheep Creek project in Montana holds an average neodymium concentration of 1.2% or 12,000 parts per million (ppm), a substantial grade for this strategic element.
The deposit, independently verified by Activation Laboratories, could become a vital domestic source of neodymium as the West strives for less reliance on dominant China for supplies. The metal is best known for its use in high-strength permanent magnets (neodymium-iron-boron or NdFeB magnets), which are critical in wind turbines, electric vehicle motors, defence and aerospace systems, and medical imaging devices.
“Restoring America’s control over these critical materials is vital to safeguarding our defence, energy and manufacturing sectors against foreign dependency,” U.S. Critical Materials President Jim Hendrick said in a release.
Despite the term “rare,” neodymium is relatively abundant in the Earth’s crust but is rarely found in concentrated deposits, making extraction and refinement costly.
Fighter jets
The Sheep Creek deposit contains total rare earth oxide (TREO) grades of nearly 9% (89,932 ppm), including 2.4% (23,810 ppm) combined neodymium and praseodymium — figures that surpass all other known U.S. deposits, according to U.S. Critical Materials.
With China currently controlling around 90% of global neodymium supply, U.S. Critical Materials’ discovery could offer the U.S. a long-sought foothold in rare earth production. High-performance magnets using neodymium are also found in fighter jets, missile systems, drones, radar, hard disk drives, headphones and speakers.
Gallium
In addition to rare earths, Sheep Creek is also notable for containing the only known economically viable domestic source of gallium. With an average grade of 300 ppm, the Montana site far exceeds the typical 50 ppm seen in Chinese operations. Last year, the Asian giant limited exports of the metal and others.
Gallium is a critical material used in semiconductors, integrated circuits and high-frequency communication systems found in smartphones, laptops, radar and EVs. Global production remains extremely limited—about 600 tonnes annually, with none currently sourced from North America.
This week, Rio Tinto (NYSE, LSE, ASX: RIO) said it produced its first primary gallium from bauxite processed in Quebec. The world’s second-largest miner by market cap plans to build a demonstration plant that could produce 3.5 tonnes of gallium a year. Then it may decide on a commercial plant for 40 tonnes annually.