American Rare Earths Hunts for Gold Beyond REEs in Arizona

DENVER, CO – March 24, 2026 – In a significant strategic pivot, American Rare Earths has launched an initiative to explore for gold, silver, copper, and manganese at its La Paz Project in Arizona, a move that signals a broadening of its focus beyond its namesake minerals. The company, a key player in the development of U.S. rare earth element (REE) resources, announced today it has hired a specialized American geoscience firm to conduct a deep dive into historical data, aiming to unlock the multi-commodity potential of a region steeped in mining lore.

This decision marks a deliberate step to diversify the company's asset base and potentially add new value streams to a project previously evaluated primarily for its rare earth content. By re-examining the ground with a fresh perspective and modern techniques, American Rare Earths is betting that valuable deposits of precious and base metals may have been overlooked in the decades-long quest for other resources.

A Fresh Look at Old Ground

American Rare Earths has tasked the unnamed US-based consultancy with a comprehensive review of its La Paz land package, which spans over 7,500 acres in a historically prolific mining jurisdiction. The project involves sifting through decades of geological data—from old maps and drill logs to geochemical samples and geophysical surveys—with a specific focus on finding indicators of gold, silver, copper, and manganese mineralization.

This is not a blind search. The goal is to digitally consolidate and reinterpret historical information, applying modern geological models to identify promising targets that were missed or ignored by previous operators whose primary focus was elsewhere. The process will involve re-logging old drill cores to look for signs of metallic enrichment and re-analyzing soil and rock samples for pathfinder elements associated with valuable ore systems.

“The La Paz Project sits in a region with a long history of gold, silver, and copper mining, yet much of the modern exploration work has understandably focused on rare earth elements,” said American Rare Earths’ CEO, Mark Wall, in a statement. “By bringing in a seasoned US geoscience team to take a fresh, multi-commodity look at the data, we are aiming to unlock additional value from this large and strategically located land package.”

The ultimate output of this review will be a ranked inventory of drill-ready targets. Based on these findings, the company may launch a focused field exploration program later in 2026, which could include detailed geological mapping, extensive soil and rock sampling, and targeted ground-based geophysics to zero in on potential deposits.

Echoes of a Mining Boom

The company's new focus is well-founded in the region's rich history. La Paz County was the site of a significant gold rush in the 1860s, with placer deposits around the Gila River drawing thousands of prospectors. Historical records, though imprecise, suggest tens of thousands of ounces of gold were pulled from the area's gravels in the mid-19th century. The nearby Copperstone Mine, a more modern operation, was a significant gold and silver producer into the late 1980s.

Silver and manganese also feature prominently in the county’s past. The Silver Mining District saw a boom in the 1880s, producing millions of ounces of silver from argentiferous lead ores. During World War II, the federal government established a depot in the area to procure manganese, a critical steel-hardening alloy, from local mines like the Black Bird, which produced around a million pounds of the metal in the early 1950s. This historical endowment provides a compelling backdrop for ARR's new initiative, suggesting that the geological structures that hosted these past operations could hold undiscovered resources.

Tapping into a Critical Need

This strategic diversification extends beyond simple asset optimization; it aligns with a powerful national imperative to secure domestic supply chains for a wide array of critical minerals. While American Rare Earths remains committed to its flagship Halleck Creek REE project in Wyoming, the move at La Paz acknowledges the growing strategic importance of other metals.

Copper is the bedrock of the green energy transition, essential for everything from electric vehicles and wind turbines to grid upgrades. The U.S. remains a net importer of refined copper despite Arizona's status as a top-producing state. Manganese is on the Department of Defense's list of strategic materials, yet the U.S. has been almost entirely dependent on imports since the 1970s.

Perhaps most timely is the focus on silver. In late 2025, the U.S. government officially added silver to its Critical Minerals List, a recognition of its indispensable role in high-tech and green applications. Over 60% of silver demand now comes from industry—for solar panels, 5G networks, EV components, and AI data centers. The market has faced five consecutive years of a supply deficit, drawing down global inventories to precarious levels and highlighting the vulnerability of a supply chain where the U.S. imports over 70% of its consumption.

A Crowded and Promising Field

American Rare Earths is stepping into a dynamic and competitive environment. Arizona is a global mining hub, attracting massive investment from some of the world's largest resource companies. The state is home to colossal copper projects, including the developing Resolution Copper mine, a joint venture between Rio Tinto and BHP, and Hudbay Minerals' fully permitted Copper World project near Tucson, which is poised to become a major domestic copper producer.

In the silver and manganese space, projects like the Hermosa deposit in southern Arizona are advancing, promising to be the nation's first large-scale manganese producer in decades. By initiating its own search, American Rare Earths is positioning itself to potentially contribute to this statewide resource boom. The company's approach of leveraging existing land holdings and historical data offers a cost-effective pathway to potentially identify supplementary value that could complement its primary mission of building an American rare earths supply chain. Any success in defining new gold, silver, or copper resources would not only add a compelling new dimension to the La Paz project but also strengthen the company's role in the broader effort to rebuild America's industrial and strategic mineral independence.