Massive ‘rare earth’ deposit found in Williston Basin.

The North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources (DMR), in conjunction with State Geologist Ed Murphy, has announced that ND’s Geological Survey has discovered a nearly thirty-foot-thick interval of rocks containing untapped critical minerals.

Critical minerals are defined by the U.S. Government as minerals that are essential to the economic or national security of the states. Typically, these are minerals that make up vital components of modern technologies, especially energy infrastructures and those used in defense applications. However, as important as these minerals are, there is little to no production of them in the United States — and manufacturers in the country are often forced to rely on supplies from foreign countries, some of which are adversaries of our national interests. Much of the global supply of these more valuable rare minerals currently comes from South China.

Although their name suggests that rare minerals are difficult to find, they are relatively common in some types of rocks — however, they do not always concentrate into ores that can be mined. Currently, the US only has one such deposit (the Mountain Pass mine in CA), but this is not enough to fulfill the domestic demand for these materials. However, samplings from 2015 to recent times by the ND Geological Survey have identified a tremendous concentration of critical minerals throughout the Williston Basin.

Source: www.kxnet.com

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