US-based Ionic Mineral Technologies has expanded the lease rights for its Silicon Ridge rare earth project in Utah and completed a strategic step-out drilling program for its Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA).

The 4,100 additional acres of land consolidate the company’s strategic land package to roughly 13,000 contiguous acres. The expansion is strategically significant, as it facilitates direct, optimized logistical access from the project area to Ionic’s processing facility in Provo.

The drilling program was designed to test the lateral extent of the mineralized clay system and provide the data necessary to expand the geological model for the PEA. Each step-out hole intersected the targeted mineralization and ended within the mineralized formation, confirming the system’s strong lateral continuity and indicating it remains open at depth, the company said.

Silicon Ridge’s polymetallic clay will be the primary feedstock for Ionic vertically integrated production, designed to bypass complex, high-cost hard-rock processing.

The company intends to provide a domestic source of minor metals and rare earths from its IAC-Plus system, which contains gallium, germanium, rubidium, cesium, scandium, lithium, vanadium, tungsten and niobium. The company also plans to produce its IonAl alumina for industrial applications and Ionisil Nano-Silicon anode material for lithium-ion batteries.

“Consolidating 13,000 acres and confirming continuous mineralization across a 1,400-acre footprint reinforces that Silicon Ridge has the potential to be one of North America’s most significant and scalable critical mineral assets,” said Andre Zeitoun, CEO and founder of Ionic Mineral Technologies.

Source: Ionic Mineral Technologies