RER to break ground

Rare Element Resources (RER) is hosting a groundbreaking ceremony and open house on Monday for its planned separation and extraction demonstration plant in Upton.

Construction is expected to begin at the plant before the end of the year.

The event is a celebration of progress towards the eventual goal of constructing a full-scale separation plant using the company’s proprietary extraction technology, which it says is environmentally friendly and can successfully produce pure oxides that are more than 99.5% pure.

The open house will also include an update on the Bear Lodge Project, which is located just outside of Sundance and is touted as being one of the largest, highest grade rare element projects under development at this time.

Additionally, there will be a ceremonial groundbreaking, as well as a virtual reality experience and 3D model of the demonstration plant. CEO Brent Berg, as well as representatives from General Atomics and other VIPs, will make remarks.

RER was granted a source materials license from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission this summer, a “critical step” in moving ahead with the company’s planned demo plant. The demo plant itself represents the next step of RER’s journey towards operating a rare earth mine and processing plant in northeast Wyoming, with the mine itself to be located in the Bear Lodge Mountains just outside Sundance.

The source materials license allows RER to make use of previously stockpiled material from the Bear Lodge Project in the operation of the demo plant. The plant will make use of an estimate 1000 tons of ore from the site, which will be transported to the plant’s location in Upton.

The open house will take place at Upton Community Center, 916 Ash Street, from 1 to 4 p.m. on October 9.