Onshoring North American rare earth mining

We evaluated 28 drill-tested North American (NA) rare earth element (REE) deposits and their suitability for commercialization to supply domestic end-use demand. Tonnages and grades (total rare earth oxide, TREO), as well as thorium contents of NA deposits are similar to deposits of interest in Australia, Greenland, and China (except Bayan Obo). Total NA resources (35 Mt TREO) are 90x greater than present world production (0.39 Mt/year). NA production from the Mountain Pass and Jesup mines (0.045 Mt TREO/yr) can be augmented rapidly by increasing production from soft-rock placer deposits in the Atlantic Coastal Plain, including Ti-Zr and kaolin sand deposits. Light REEs could come from hard-rock deposits, Bear Lodge in the U.S. or the Canadian Niobec and Wicheeda carbonatite deposits, with heavy REEs from Round Top in the U.S., although Strange Lake and Nechalacho in Canada are more attractive. Cooperative production agreements and relief from low-grade mining costs could come from policy assistance.