The Sierra Blanca Laccolith Complex (“SBLC”), located in West Texas, hosts the largest known HREE deposits in the USA with among the highest HREE to TREO ratios in the world at 65%+, simplifying metallurgy and processing. The district’s five laccoliths outcrop as peaks, dramatically reducing the cost and risk of exploratory drilling. A voluminous body of historical work in both public and private sectors reveals remarkably consistent REE grades throughout the laccoliths. Mineralization is amenable to heap leaching, resulting in far lower capex requirements versus conventional mill processing, as has been proven at Round Top, which can be upgraded to purity levels required for marketable material (99.1% purity Dysprosium Oxide). The district benefits from excellent access to highway and rail transportation infrastructure and grid power.
El Paso Minerals has assembled a ~6,000 acre land position, consisting of private hard mineral leases and state prospect permits that encompass Little Blanca and Sierra Blanca, the two largest laccoliths within the SBLC.
The U.S. government has taken an active role in supporting domestic HREE extraction and has designated the SBLC as a core, strategic district, as evidenced by the recently announced $1.6 billion transaction with USAR. It is a vital strategic national priority to onshore HREE extraction for enhanced magnet production, critical for defense, as greater than 90% of global HREE mining is located in China and Myanmar. El Paso is rapidly advancing the Frontera project, including an aggressive drilling campaign to delineate a mineral resource and iterative metallurgical testing to streamline processing to create marketable oxides onsite, helping to secure the future of American Critical Minerals.