US uncovers major deposit of rare earths and critical minerals

Ionic Mineral Technologies, known as Ionic MT, said the deposit lies beneath its Silicon Ridge project in Utah, where the company operates a processing facility covering about 6,900 square meters.

The newly identified exploration area spans about 2.43 square kilometers and contains 16 critical minerals, including lithium, gallium, germanium, rubidium, cesium, vanadium, tungsten, and niobium, as well as both light and heavy rare earth elements, according to Interesting Engineering.

"You can’t make a vehicle without these, you can’t make a fighter jet without some of these metals," Andre Zeitoun, founder and chief executive of Ionic MT, told The Wall Street Journal, adding that the minerals are also essential for semiconductor chips that power artificial intelligence.

Ionic Mineral Technologies has discovered a large rare earth and critical metals deposit beneath Utah’s desert. Photo courtesy of Ionic Mineral Technologies

According to the company, independent analyses have confirmed the site as one of the most notable concentrations of rare earth elements and technology metals in North America. Comparable geological formations in China account for roughly 35-40% of the country’s total rare earth production and more than 70% of global heavy rare earth supply.

Data from 106 drill holes totaling more than 10,000 meters, along with 35 trenches across 2.63 square kilometers, show an average concentration of about 2,700 parts per million of rare earths and critical metals in the clay. This exceeds grades reported at several well-known Chinese ion-adsorption clay deposits, which typically range from 500 to 2,000 ppm.

"This confirmation is a watershed moment for American resource independence," Zeitoun said.

He added that the deposit represents a rare opportunity to produce a wide range of critical minerals domestically using a faster and cleaner extraction process than traditional hard-rock mining.

China dominates the critical minerals market and supplies about 90% of the world’s rare earths. The Trump administration has identified domestic critical mineral mining as a national security priority, citing their use in everything from semiconductors to defense systems. Ionic MT said it has held several meetings with the administration and that the White House expressed "clear enthusiasm about our work and its potential national impact."

So far, the company has drilled more than 600 acres to a depth of about 100 feet, but much of the area remains unexplored. "We know this is a sizable deposit, and we know that’s just scratching the surface," Zeitoun said.

He also said extracting the minerals should be relatively straightforward. "Think of it like a lake bed that dried out over many millions of years. It’s very soft clay, and we’re mining from the surface."