Metal Tech News - April 3, 2024
In addition to its rare earth and lithium battery material recycling and refining activities, American Resources Corp. is exploring the potential of recovering rare earths from the Wyoming County Coal project in West Virginia.
"Our team has laid the foundation for this project as one of the largest, low cost, mid vol (volatile) metallurgical carbon facilities with inherent high-grade rare earth and critical mineral concentration," said American Carbon CEO Tarlis Thompson. "Extraction of rare earth minerals from nontraditional sources are extremely challenging to make economical as a standalone business. However, integrating it within a premium mid vol met carbon operation utilizing byproduct economics and innovative technology changes the cost structure for it to be viable."
Funded as part of American Resources' previously announced $45 million bond, the company conducted an assessment of its property through an independent third-party lab which found Wyoming County Coal to hold over 550 ppm rare earths.
"Our focus on building concentration facilities alongside profitable metallurgical carbon extraction and processing operations enables us to significantly lower costs and utilize byproduct economics to unlock the value of traditional wasted material," added Thompson. "We are extremely excited to share that the analysis conducted from this site exceeds 550 ppm."
Much like ReElement Technologies Corp., American Carbon Corp. is a subsidiary established under the umbrella of a company focused on sustainable resource development on domestic soil.
In addition to recycling and refining end-of-life components to return to the cycle of manufacturing, American Resources has also sought alternative means to extract the critical minerals and metals needed for national security and a clean energy future.
"This is a monumental event for our business, which represents the largest financing we have closed to date, enabling the implementation of high value innovation around the critical and rare earth element marketplace," said American Resources CEO Mark Jensen at the time of the financial closing. "Once operational our technology around producing rare earth and critical mineral concentrates can be licensed out to third parties all throughout the world to cost effectively produce feedstock concentrates that can be refined at our ReElement refining facilities to produce battery and magnet grade feedstocks."
This is especially so through its development of the Wyoming Country Coal complex near Oceana, West Virginia.
Located in Eastern Kentucky and West Virginia, American Carbon has an operating capacity of over five million tons per year. Streamlined for rare earth and critical mineral extraction and once fully operational, the U.S. will have yet another reliable domestic supply of these nationally vital elements.
Strategically located within one of the last substantial mid-volatile metallurgical carbon deposits in the U.S., Wyoming Country Coal has direct access to railways with favorable transportation logistics to East Coast ports.
Surrounded by a number of high-value metallurgical carbon reserves and mining sites that would otherwise be considered "stranded" without access to the Wyoming Country Coal processing and logistics complex, American Resources has chosen to enter the mining sector and focus initially on bringing two new underground mines into production.
Estimated to produce 55,000 tons of carbon per month, with further expansion as the mines are developed, the company also plans to upgrade and expand the processing plant from its current 350 tons per hour rate to approximately 700 tons per hour, while also incorporating its innovative "capture" and "process" technology to extract the valuable minerals and metals.
"As we push forward on this exciting project, we are also looking to further expand our footprint in West Virginia to replicate our efficient model to extract metallurgical coal and concentrate rare earth minerals as a byproduct to feed into our ReElement Technologies division for the final separation purification and refinement step," finished Thompson.
Once operational, the company expects to ship its rare earth and critical element concentrates to the company's ReElement refining facility in Indiana for further separation and purification into the forms needed for the manufacturing of clean, low-carbon goods and technologies.
Heading a growing multi-functional company with branches that target specific sectors to encompass as much of the rare earth and critical minerals pipeline, American Resources has begun to establish itself as a next generation titan of industry, and hopefully, one that can affect lasting change for the better.
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