u/Bansionboy

https://preview.redd.it/tc0fbqybmxjh1.png?width=1246&format=png&auto=webp&s=803bf56dec1569c08b1dbc8612c60159246f8fab

ARR's proposed commercial chain

HALLECK CREEK, WYOMING

1. Mining: Open pit mining of Halleck Creek ore at the Cowboy State Mine
2. Comminution: Crushing/grinding/milling the ore
3. Beneficiation: ARR is currently favoring a Reflux Classifier Concentrator (RCC) followed by Induced Roll Magnetic Separation (IRMS). ARR's April 2026 pilot work showed roughly 94% gangue rejection, ~70% TREO recovery and ~10× grade enrichment in preliminary testing
4. Atmospheric leaching: The upgraded concentrate goes through atmospheric tank leaching. This is the hydrometallurgical step where the rare earths are brought into solution.
5. Impurity removal: ARR has been testing magnesium oxide (MgO) as the neutralizing reagent. The objective is to remove impurities such as iron, aluminum, silica, thorium and titanium while retaining the rare earths in solution.
6. Mixed rare-earth oxalate: Rare earths are selectively precipitated from the purified leach solution using oxalic acid. ARR has already demonstrated this step.
7. Calcination: The mixed rare-earth oxalate is heated to approximately 1,000°C, converting it into mixed rare-earth oxide (MREO). ARR produced MREO from Halleck Creek material in December 2025.
8. Solvent extraction / separation: The MREO is the feedstock for solvent extraction, which separates the individual rare earths. This is where the mixed product gets turned into individual products such as: NdPr oxide | Dy oxide | Tb oxide | Sm oxide | Y oxide. ARR's December release specifically identified solvent extraction as the next step and said simulation work was being used to define the separation refinery.
9. Oxide to Metal: Novex's role under the MOU is specifically to take NdPr oxide produced from ARR's demonstration plant and convert it into a metal product suitable as a magnet precursor.
10. Metal to Alloy to Magnet: "The parties will collaborate on the design of a rare earth metal production facility to be built by the Company" with "Objective is a fully domestic U.S. mine-to-magnet supply chain with entirely U.S. feedstock and processing"

Latest Significant News:

Dec 2025 - ARR demonstrates Halleck Creek ore into MREO

Mar 2026 - ARR commissions Tetra Tech to figure out separated HREE oxide into HREE metal

Apr 2026 - ARR accelerates its pilot plant to produce pre-production material

Aug 2026 - ARR NdPr oxide will go to Novex to create NdPr metal. ARR + Novex to design a U.S. rare-earth metal facility

Notes:

Novex is the first concrete partner ARR has announced specifically for that oxide-to-metal bridge.

The image is AI generated with the sources below and my own research.

If you spot anything I missed or got wrong, feel free to correct me. NFA.

References:

https://www.stocktitan.net/overview/AMRRY/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/04/01/3266581/0/en/American-Rare-Earths-Accelerates-Pilot-Plant-to-Produce-Pre-Production-Concentrate.html

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2025/12/16/3206198/0/en/rare-earths-oxide-produced-from-halleck-creek-ore.html

https://www.nasdaq.com/press-release/american-rare-earths-commissions-oxide-metal-study-heavy-rare-earths-2026-03-30

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/08/17/3346063/0/en/american-rare-earths-signs-mou-with-novex-to-advance-u-s-oxide-to-metal-production.html

Updates

• Commenced Final Feasibility Study (FS) drilling at Cowboy State Mine, with 8 of 19 drill holes completed by quarter end
• Accelerated pilot plant development, establishing a three-stage Wyoming-led pathway toward pre-production separated NdPr oxide
• Executed agreements with Western Research Institute, DISA Technologies, and Saskatchewan Research Council to support pilot plant processing
• Continued procurement of key pilot plant equipment, including Induced Roll Magnetic Separators and a GradePro Reflux Classifier
• Advanced the Pre-Feasibility Study while progressing Final Feasibility Study activities
• Continued the Whole of Property Assessment (WOPA) to optimize long-term development across the entire 8,108-acre Halleck Creek district
• Continued oxide-to-metal studies as part of the Company's mine-to-magnet strategy
• Strengthened leadership with appointments of Director of Public & Government Affairs, Director of Projects & Engineering, and announced the addition of Chief Development Officer and proposed Non-Executive Director Matthew Gili
• Continued advancing La Paz, Beaver Creek and Searchlight to maintain long-term project optionality
• Advanced NASDAQ listing preparations through PCAOB audit work, SEC S-K 1300 resource conversion, engagement of a U.S. securities law firm, and appointment of a leading North American financial advisor

Cash Flow

• Cash: A$18.6M
• Quarter Burn: ~A$8.2M
• Estimated Runway: ~2.3 quarters (reflecting accelerated feasibility drilling and pilot plant investment)

Operations

• Staff: A$431K
• Administration & corporate: A$778K
• Interest received: +A$210K
• Net operating cash burn: ~A$1.0M

Investing

• Exploration & evaluation: ~A$7.2M
• Wyoming grant reimbursement: +A$233K
• Property, plant & equipment: +A$111K
• Net investing: ~A$6.8M

Financing

• Option exercises: +A$1.64M
• Lease payments: A$37K
• Net financing: +A$1.60M

Cash Position

• Started: A$24.8M
• Ended: A$18.6M

Also Noteworthy

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• Commenced feasibility-stage drilling to support future ore reserve estimation and mine design.
• Pilot plant now has defined processing partners and a staged pathway to produce separated NdPr oxide.
• Appointed BDO to complete PCAOB audit work while converting Halleck Creek to SEC Regulation S-K 1300 reporting standards.
• Retained a leading North American financial advisor to evaluate U.S. listing pathways and transaction structures.

Most Intriguing

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This quarter marked a clear shift from planning to execution. Cash burn increased substantially because ARR simultaneously launched feasibility drilling, advanced the pilot plant toward oxide production, expanded engineering work, and accelerated NASDAQ readiness. While the cash balance fell to A$18.6M, the spending was overwhelmingly directed toward advancing Halleck Creek into its next stage of development rather than corporate overhead. If management's timeline holds, these investments should drive a steady stream of catalysts over the remainder of 2026, including drill assays, Final Feasibility Study progress, pilot plant milestones, and continued NASDAQ developments.

ARR has created a new exec role and tapped Andrew Conover to fill it. He'll be driving the Halleck Creek Rare Earths Project through Pre-Feasibility, Final Feasibility, and toward construction.

Highlights:

• ~20 years of mining project execution experience across the Americas
• Most recently Senior Director of Construction at Elko Mining Group/Origin Mining, where he led a brownfield copper-moly mill restart (~US$350M capital budget)
• New role focused on engineering, project controls, risk management, and constructability for Halleck Creek
• Will also help advance the Whole of Property Development Assessment for the broader Halleck Creek deposit

Also noted: Dwight Kinnes has retired from the company.

ARR is beefing up internal execution capability as it pushes to de-risk Halleck Creek.

I've spent years following every drill result, metallurgy update, resource estimate, permitting milestone, management change, and technical report and Halleck Creek has been viewed as a project that always seemed to be a few years away from fruition.

Q3 2026 may be the quarter where that starts to change.

Potential catalysts over the next few months include:

• The Halleck Creek Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS), targeted for Q3.

• Drill assay results and integration into resource model and mine planning.

• Pilot / rare earth oxide production pathway advancement and validation work.

• Ongoing permitting and regulatory progress in Wyoming.

• Progress toward NASDAQ listing requirements ($2 minimum).

• Continued downstream processing development and U.S. supply chain positioning.

• Any strategic partnerships, offtake, or financing updates.

• Additional developments from La Paz, Beaver Creek and Searchlight.

Another potential Q3 catalyst that doesn't get talked about enough is the company's planned Nasdaq listing. Nasdaq's rules include alternative listing pathways that may allow a minimum price of $2 depending on the final structure and requirements met by the company. Since ARR's primary listing is on the ASX and management appears to be pursuing an ADR-based Nasdaq listing. We are still awaiting further clarification from management and the Board regarding the exact listing structure, ADR ratio, and qualification pathway.

Also, June 30 marks the end of Australia's fiscal year, with July 1 beginning a new fiscal year. While that doesn't guarantee buying pressure, it does mean some investors and funds may be entering a new allocation period as Q3 begins.

NFA!

At Halleck Creek, feasibility-stage drilling is underway with approximately 3,050 meters of core drilling planned across 19 holes, with drilling being conducted by Boart Longyear, one of the world's leading drilling services providers. Five holes have already been completed, and the company has indicated assay results are expected in roughly six weeks.

Based on previous company comments that samples would be submitted in batches as drilling progressed, it is reasonable to assume some samples may already be partway through the assay process. Assays are being managed by Dahrouge Geological Consulting, a globally recognized geoscience consulting firm.

The company is also advancing its Whole of Property Development Assessment, which is evaluating the broader Halleck Creek district beyond the initial Cowboy State Mine development plan. This work is expected to continue through the end of 2026 and includes Red Mountain, Overton Mountain, and Bluegrass.

Outside of Halleck Creek, ARR continues to advance the rest of its U.S. portfolio:

• Beaver Creek (Wyoming): Additional geological mapping and surface sampling are planned in 2026 following some of the highest-grade rare earth results in ARR's portfolio. Historic surface sampling returned 5.8% to 13.9% TREO, with NdPr grades ranging from 1.0% to 2.2%. The project hosts allanite mineralization similar to Halleck Creek and could potentially benefit from future Wyoming-based processing synergies.

• La Paz (Arizona): Ongoing technical reviews are evaluating gold, silver, copper, manganese, and other critical minerals across the property. The current review aims to determine whether additional value exists beyond rare earths.

• Searchlight (Nevada): A comprehensive exploration review is scheduled to begin in Q3 2026. Located approximately 30 km east of Mountain Pass. Searchlight is particularly interesting due to its heavy rare earth potential. Historical work includes sampling by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, which reported grades of up to 6.81% REO, with later academic studies confirming multi-percent rare earth values. Despite these encouraging results, the project remains at an early stage with no drilling completed by ARR and no current mineral resource estimate. The upcoming review will assess the best path forward for exploration.

American Rare Earths CEO Mark Wall commented:

“2026 is a pivotal year for American Rare Earths as we advance Halleck Creek through feasibility-stage work while continuing to build the broader exploration pipeline across our U.S. portfolio.”

“At Halleck Creek, drilling is now underway to support the Feasibility Study, while the Whole of Property Development Assessment is helping define the longer-term expansion pathway across the broader district.”

“At the same time, we are progressing technical and exploration reviews at La Paz, Beaver Creek and Searchlight to ensure we continue developing optionality across a portfolio of rare earth and critical minerals assets in strategic U.S. jurisdictions.”

For anyone following ARRNF, it's worth understanding the political backdrop in Wyoming and the role Congresswoman Harriet Hageman is playing in it.

Background on Hageman: She grew up on a ranch, attended Casper College on a livestock judging scholarship, and earned both her undergraduate degree and law degree from the University of Wyoming. She spent 34 years as a litigator nationally known for challenging federal overreach and protecting water and property rights. She began her focus on natural resource issues in 1997 when Wyoming hired her to handle Nebraska v. Wyoming, defending the state's rights to the North Platte River. This is not a politician who learned about mining from a briefing book.

On her committee assignments, she sits on the House Natural Resources and Judiciary Committees and chairs the Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife, and Fisheries, while also serving on the Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee — positions that place her directly in the path of the permitting and regulatory decisions that affect projects like Halleck Creek.

On rare earths specifically, at the opening of Wyoming's first rare earth mine in over 70 years, Hageman stated the U.S. has relied almost entirely on foreign sources, particularly China, for critical minerals for over 70 years, calling that dependency a vulnerability, and said Wyoming is now reclaiming independence by tapping reserves beneath its feet. She specifically named Halleck Creek as one of the state's flagship projects in her REEx podcast interview.

Recent developments on the project include meaningful third-party validation. Ore from Halleck Creek was processed into light and heavy rare earth oxide concentrates for a Department of Defense-linked agency, with a research group assaying the concentrates to approximately 96.4% light rare earth oxides and 97.1% heavy rare earth oxides from 840 kg of ore composited from roughly 36 drill holes across the project. American Rare Earths has also been selected by the U.S. Department of Energy to provide feedstock for the METALLIC consortium, led by the National Energy Technology Laboratory, to help establish new domestic critical minerals supply chains.

The political angle matters here because Hageman's focus on cutting permitting timelines is directly relevant to the project's development path. Having a congresswoman with three decades of federal agency litigation experience, sitting on the exact subcommittees that govern this space, actively vocal about Halleck Creek by name, is a meaningful piece of the thesis beyond just the geology.

Worth noting for timing: Hageman is delivering the keynote address at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Critical Minerals Summit on June 11, 2026 in Washington D.C. The summit brings together expert voices from government and industry to discuss the most important issues and innovations facing the critical mineral value chain. Having her as the keynote speaker at that event, one week from now, suggests her profile on this issue is only growing.

Thanks Kitchen!

The Big Picture:

ARR just announced their 2026 drilling program is live at the Cowboy State Mine in Wyoming. This is feasibility-level drilling designed specifically to underpin a Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS), the heavyweight technical document needed before a mine can be built and financed. All while the PFS isn't even released yet!

Breakdown of Release:

• Drilling kicked off May 13th at Red Mountain
• 19 holes / ~3,050 meters (10,000 feet) of HQ core drilling
• ~1,045 core samples headed to ALS Global for assay
• Boart Longyear doing the drilling (one of the biggest contract drillers in the world), Dahrouge Geological managing on-site logging
• Wraps up mid-July 2026
• Terrain is so rugged they're using helicopter support to move the drill rig and core boxes

41.846824761626166, -105.29809810144361

Two distinct target zones:

• 9 holes on top of Red Mountain: hitting the high-grade zones earmarked for the first 5 years of planned mining. Goal is to convert resources to Measured & Indicated classification, which is required before you can declare an Ore Reserve. No Ore Reserve = no mine financing.
• 10 holes around the base of Red Mountain: chasing extensions of higher-grade mineralization identified in earlier channel sampling and recent mapping. Potential resource upside here. Could mean bigger CapEx=Bigger EXIM loan.

https://preview.redd.it/ntq0n2ehao3h1.png?width=652&format=png&auto=webp&s=d42ed88ed4a48b52d0637c38c398b2da15afdc98

Other Remarks:

Core isn't just going for assay either, it's feeding geotechnical testing (pit slope design), hydrogeological studies, environmental baseline work, and metallurgical testwork to further de-risk the processing flowsheet. This single drill program is doing the work of several workstreams at once.

ARR is targeting completion of its Pre-Feasibility Study in late Q3 2026. Mark Wall is explicitly saying they're not waiting for it to land before committing to DFS-level drilling. Both are running in parallel right now.

That's an unusually aggressive posture for a junior miner. Normally companies finish the PFS, digest it, then plan the next phase. ARR is essentially saying they have enough conviction in the project that they're not willing to lose 6–12 months sitting on their hands. By the time the PFS is published, the DFS drill core will already be logged, sampled, and partway through the lab.

They also recently awarded a Whole of Property Development Assessment to a major engineering firm, testing 5–10 Mtpa mine scenarios across their 2.63 billion tonne resource. So large-scale strategic planning is happening simultaneously with the technical drilling. This isn't a company that's waiting to see how one thing goes before starting the next.

What to Watch Next:

• Assay results from this drill program as they come through (mid-July completion means results likely rolling in through Q3)
• PFS release expected late Q3 2026 which should give the market a proper economic picture for the first time
• Any DFS timeline guidance that follows once the PFS is out
• Any stock split information, hoping 1:3 after a run up of news releases in Q3
• Reasoning for dilution in the last week, roughly 5.2m shares (less than1% dilution)

The next 3–4 months are probably the most newsflow-heavy period in this company's history. Worth paying attention.

Option Series	Strike Price	Options Exercised	Proceeds
ARRAX (exp. Aug 2027)	A$0.30	425,000	A$127,500
ARRAS (exp. Nov 2026)	A$0.22	1,000,000	A$220,000
ARRAY (exp. Jul 2029)	A$0.30	1,000,000	A$300,000
ARRAB (exp. Dec 2028)	A$0.30	462,439	A$138,732
Total		2,887,439	~A$786,232

• Post-issue shares on issue: 579,942,959 ordinary shares fully paid.
• Still significant option overhang: ARR still has ~46 million unquoted options

ARRNF just released its 4th cleansing notice this week, bringing total option exercised to roughly 2.4M shares. Latest filing shows 900,000 shares issued from exercised unlisted options.

Big picture: insiders/holders are actively choosing to exercise options instead of letting them expire, which is another sign confidence and momentum are building ahead of the PFS and potential uplisting developments.

• The Halleck Creek PFS is expected in 2 months.
• Management has already been talking about a Nasdaq uplisting pathway.
• Halleck Creek is already one of the largest rare earth deposits in the United States.
• The initial Cowboy State Mine area is only a fraction of the overall district, meaning this could be developed in phases over many years.
• The U.S. government is aggressively pushing domestic rare earth supply chains, and Wyoming has recently been making moves to simplify oversight tied to critical mineral development.
• Momentum has clearly been building lately, and trading volume has started spiking as more investors begin paying attention ahead of the expected catalysts.

Feels like the market is still pricing this like a small OTC explorer while the company is positioning itself as a future strategic U.S. rare earth producer. If the PFS comes back strong with the uplisting, I think a lot more eyes suddenly show up here.

• The Halleck Creek PFS is expected in 2 months.
• Management has already been talking about a Nasdaq uplisting pathway.
• Halleck Creek is already one of the largest rare earth deposits in the United States.
• The initial Cowboy State Mine area is only a fraction of the overall district, meaning this could be developed in phases over many years.
• The U.S. government is aggressively pushing domestic rare earth supply chains, and Wyoming has recently been making moves to simplify oversight tied to critical mineral development.
• Momentum has clearly been building lately, and trading volume has started spiking as more investors begin paying attention ahead of the expected catalysts.

Feels like the market is still pricing this like a small OTC explorer while the company is positioning itself as a future strategic U.S. rare earth producer. If the PFS comes back strong with the uplisting, I think a lot more eyes suddenly show up here.

Brook Brockman (Public & Government Affairs)

• Wyoming-based, with experience in agriculture, conservation, and rural development.
• Board member of the Platte County Resource District (soil, water, land use) .
• Will handle community relations, landowners, and coordination with local/state/federal officials.
• Also supporting workforce development and local economic initiatives tied to the project.

Taylor Cable (Projects & Engineering)

• Based in Denver with strong background in mineral processing + heavy industrial builds.
• Experience taking projects from feasibility → engineering → construction → commissioning.
• Will lead the transition from technical studies into front-end engineering and plant design.
• Focused on aligning cost estimates, execution strategy, and reducing risk before major capital is deployed.

Updates

• Accelerating Halleck Creek development to position it as an integrated part of the U.S. rare earth mine-to-magnet supply chain
• Established a Wyoming-based pilot plant pathway to reach pre-production rare earth oxide faster, enabling near-term output of separated products
• Awarded a Whole of Property Development Assessment, creating a district-wide roadmap across the full Halleck Creek land package
• Initiated oxide-to-metal studies for the heavy rare earth stream, advancing downstream processing ahead of permanent magnet manufacturing
• Strengthened leadership with a combined CEO/President role, new VP of Corporate Development & Strategy, and a Wyoming-based Director of Public & Government Affairs, plus dedicated permitting and pilot project leads
• Continued active engagement with U.S. government agencies, contributing to critical minerals policy and exploring potential project support
• Launched an AI-supported exploration review at the La Paz project in Arizona
• Pre-Feasibility Study progressing toward completion in late Q3 2026
• Advancing work toward a planned 2026 NASDAQ listing

Cash Flow

• Cash: A$24.8M
• Burn: ~A$2.1M per quarter
• Runway: ~11.7 quarters (~3 years)

Operations (day-to-day)

• Spent A$641K on staff and admin

Investing (project spend)

• Exploration: ~A$1.9M
• Equipment: ~A$226K
• Wyoming grant: +A$390K
• Sold investment: +A$2.9M → Net: +A$1.2M

Financing

• Options: +A$300K

Cash position

• Started: A$23.98M
• Ended: A$24.8M

Also Noteworthy

"The Company has engaged Lucas Hekma to oversee and coordinate all permitting work. Mr. Hekma is a veteran permitting specialist who most recently successfully advanced permitting of the CK Gold Project in Wyoming."

"The Company also appointed Brook Brockman as Director of Public and Government Affairs for its wholly owned subsidiary, Wyoming Rare (USA) Inc. Ms. Brockman is a Wheatland, Wyoming native and brings experience in agriculture, conservation and rural economic development, together with established relationships across Platte and Albany Counties. In her role, Ms. Brockman will lead community, government and stakeholder engagement activities to support permitting, regulatory coordination and local collaboration as the Halleck Creek Project advances through study and development phases."

Most Intriguing

"During the quarter, the Company advanced work towards a NASDAQ listing. The work is expected to be completed by the end of 2026."

I came across something that I think is worth discussing as a community, especially for those of us closely following ARRNF.

Donald Swartz, who previously served as CEO of American Rare Earths, is now behind a new company preparing to go public: Rare Earths Americas Inc. (REA). On the surface, the timing and overlap in focus are… interesting to say the least.

This new company is also centered around rare earth exploration, with projects in the U.S. (Georgia) and Brazil, and is positioning itself as part of the Western push to build a non-China rare earth supply chain. Sound familiar?

A few things stand out:

• It’s a true early-stage explorer — no revenue, no defined reserves on its key U.S. asset, and years away from potential production
• The Shiloh Project in Georgia is being framed as a “new district discovery,” but it currently lacks a defined resource
• The Brazilian assets (Alpha and Constellation) have inferred resources, but still need significant work to prove economic viability
• The company is leaning heavily on the same macro narrative we’ve all been following: critical minerals, supply chain security, and magnet metals (NdPr, Dy, Tb)

What makes this interesting is the leadership overlap and timing. You have a former ARR figure now launching a separate rare earth vehicle that appears to be chasing a similar narrative, possibly targeting a different stage of the development curve.

To be clear, this doesn’t automatically mean anything negative. It could simply be:

• A new opportunity being developed independently
• A different geological thesis or asset base
• Or an attempt to capture earlier-stage upside in parallel to more advanced projects

But it does raise some fair questions worth discussing:

• Why launch a separate company instead of advancing within ARR?
• Are these assets complementary, competitive, or completely unrelated?
• Was his transition planned well in advance, or did it coincide with any shift in ARR’s direction?
• Does this signal confidence in the rare earth macro (enough to launch another company), or fragmentation in the space?
• How much transparency do we have around leadership transitions and new ventures in this space?
• Were there any underlying issues or disagreements that led to the leadership change, or was it purely a strategic transition?

Not drawing conclusions here — just putting the information out there because I think it’s relevant to anyone invested in ARRNF and the rare earth thesis as a whole.

Curious to hear what everyone else thinks.