Lodestar Minerals mobilises US REE exploration team to Virgin Mountain

• Lodestar’s rare earth expert exploration team is now on the ground at Virgin Mountain to accelerate the growth of the U.S. REE portfolio.
• Systematic review underway of the full five-kilometre structural trend.
• Lodestar is targeting high-priority surface expressions of HREE mineralisation.

Lodestar Minerals (ASX:LSR) is accelerating its understanding of its recent move into the US rare earth element sector, with the company’s exploration team now on site at the Virgin Mountain project in Arizona.

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The team, led by exploration manager Finn Hunter and supported by recently appointed specialist consultants Robin Wilson and Dr Ross Chandler, has started a two-part program focused on a field review of the Virgin Mountain HREE project and a generative review of critical mineral opportunities across the States.

“Having Finn, Robin and Ross on the ground in Virgin Mountain HREE and across REE prospective regions of the USA is a major step forward for Lodestar,” newly appointed CEO, Coraline Blaud, said today.

“We’ve gained strong momentum following the confirmation of xenotime at our Virgin Mountain HREE project, with our focus now turning to understanding the potential of the five km trend, which remains largely unexplored.

Lodestar completed the acquisition of Virgin Mountain in early January and in mid-March reported that mineralogy results received from the study of rock chip samples from the project had confirmed xenotime as the dominant REE-bearing mineral and its heavy rare earth potential.

The U.S. team is now focused on systematically evaluating the full extent of the interpreted five-kilometre structural trend.

Previous programs identified a structurally controlled mineralised surface expression across 225m, which correlated with the broader trend, largely undercover. The trend remains untested and unexplored for REE mineralisation.

The Australian company’s wider review of U.S. rare earth element project opportunities is examining high-quality projects with geological integrity and scale potential that would complement Virgin Mountain.

Projects are being assessed based on geological setting, mineralisation style, proximity to infrastructure, permitting status, jurisdiction, and potential to host an economic rare earth element or critical mineral orebody.

“The domestic critical minerals needs in the United States has never been more attractive for the development of exploration projects. A team of REE experts in the field allows us to rapidly assess project potential in the field in real time,” Ms Blaud told Lodestar shareholders in an update today.

LSR is down -14.3%, to 1.8¢. Mkt cap $24.42M.

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