Wyoming is home to one of the largest deposits of rare earth elements and critical minerals in North America. These elements are necessary components of more than two hundred products across a wide range of applications – especially in high-tech products and technology systems.
Rare earth elements and critical minerals are naturally occurring materials with unique properties. Critical minerals encompass a large group of minerals that include lithium, cobalt, selenium, silicon, tellurium, indium, and a set of 17 special elements known as rare earths (REE).
Rare earth elements are more abundant than their name implies but are found in low concentrations, making mining challenging. They include: scandium, yttrium, lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, promethium, samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, holmium, dysprosium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, and lutetium.
These 17 rare earth elements share similar chemical characteristics, enabling them to discharge and receive electrons. They are vital components for various electronic, optical, magnetic, and catalytic applications.
When used in small amounts, rare earth elements can enhance the performance of composites and alloys. Their unique chemical and physical properties allow them to interact with other elements in ways that neither element could achieve independently.
Wyoming’s deposit of critical minerals and rare earths is unusual because the elements are consistently distributed, highly concentrated and not radioactive. Three projects are making headway around the state.
Located in northeast Wyoming, the Bear Lodge Critical Rare Earth Project is currently in development and has one of the highest-grade rare earth deposits in North America. The Wyoming Energy Authority recently granted the project $4.4 million to advance the company’s rare earth element processing and separation demonstration plant project in Upton, Wyoming. As of 2022, the project’s total cost is approximately $44 million.
In May of 2023, Ramaco announced their discovery of a major deposit of REEs, potentially the largest in the United States and worth an estimated $37 billion, at the Brook Mine outside of Sheridan. This followed eighteen months of extensive core drilling and independent chemical analysis in partnership with researchers from the Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory and geologists at Weir International, Inc.
American Rare Earths’s exploration in Albany County recently announced stellar findings of higher concentrations of minerals than previously thought. The project is moving towards test mining at the Halleck Creek Project in Wyoming, one of North America’s largest deposits of rare earths. It has filed an application with the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality.
The demand for these minerals is rapidly rising as energy systems transition to electrification. Lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese and graphite are crucial for optimal battery function. Rare earth elements play a significant role in the production of permanent magnets used in wind turbines and electric vehicle motors. The electricity networks depend heavily on aluminum and copper, with copper being vital for all electrical technologies. Lanthanum finds application in lenses, studio lighting, and cinema projection. Meanwhile, praseodymium is essential in metals for aircraft engines and protective visors utilized by welders and glassmakers. Europium, terbium, and ytterbium are used in television and computer displays.
There is increasing urgency to boost domestic production of critical minerals and rare earth elements. Since 2010, with the rise in renewable energy, the average amount of minerals required for each new unit of power generation capacity has escalated by 50%. Projections from the International Energy Agency suggest that the demand for these minerals could triple by 2030 and quadruple by 2040. Currently, China dominates the global mineral market, processing over 60% of the world’s lithium and nickel, more than 60% of cobalt, and as much as 90% of rare earth elements.
