American Rare Earths director shows further faith in company with another on-market purchase

American Rare Earths Ltd (ASX:ARR) non-executive director Geoffrey Hill has demonstrated further support of the company’s US-focused rare earth strategy with another on-market purchase of shares. On December 22 Hill acquired a further 100,000 shares increasing the number held in indirect interests to almost 78 million. This followed on-market acquisitions of 500,000 shares on December 15 and 16 with a total value of A$38,127. Shares have been as much as 6% higher to 8.1 cents intra-day. Placement funds The company recently closed a placement which raised around A$2.4 million via the issue of 26.66 million shares at A$0.09 per share. This placement also included a 1 for 2 free attaching option exercisable at A$0.15 with an expiry date of three years from the date of issue. Funds will enable the company to advance exploration activities and metallurgical test-work as it works towards the delivery of a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) on the flagship La Paz Rare Earths and Scandium Project in Arizona USA in 2021. Drilling planned ARR is planning a drilling program to test for mineralisation at depth and will also obtain core samples for use in further metallurgical test-work. It will be based on results of a 2020 Technical Report that identified extensive areas of rare earths greater than 300 parts per million (ppm) and scandium greater than 11 ppm. These areas warrant deeper drilling in the lower plate where, higher grade rare earths, would substantially increase the resource base for the project. Funds will be also used to drill in recently acquired tenements in the Southwest to follow-up favourable rare earths and scandium sampling results. With appropriate additional drilling to verify the data, the authors of the JORC 2020 resource estimate consider, if successful, the rare earth and scandium resources can be confidently reclassified and expanded. Laramie agreement amended The company has also amended a share purchase agreement with Zenith Minerals Ltd (ASX:ZNC) to acquire 100% of Zenith’s wholly-owned Laramie Rare Earth Elements (REE) Project in Wyoming, USA. The parties have revised the completion date for the acquisition to June 30, 2021, from December 31, 2020, due to delays by US authorities in transferring titles to mineral leases. This purchase includes ARR acquiring all data, including samples and maps, associated with the Laramie REE Project, and exploration permits, which are precursors in Wyoming to granting of mineral leases.