Lodestar Minerals Eyes Maiden Drilling at Arizona Heavy Rare Earth Project
Key Takeaways
- Lodestar Minerals CEO Coraline Blaud is currently on-site at the 100%-owned Virgin Mountain HREE Project in Arizona, conducting a technical and strategic review to plan the next phase of exploration including a path toward potential maiden drilling.
- The July 2026 rock-chip programme returned a headline result of 14.68% Total Rare Earth Oxide with 59% Heavy Rare Earth Oxide content, including 0.76% dysprosium oxide — though the company cautions these selective samples are not representative of the broader mineralised zone.
- A 40% land expansion in July 2026 brought the project to 661 acres across 32 mining claims, covering a 3km xenotime-bearing HREE mineralised shear trend that remains largely untested.
- US President Trump signed Executive Order 14415 on 20 July 2026, directing that critical defence materials be sourced domestically or from allied nations and accelerating qualification of new domestic sources — directly relevant to Lodestar's US-based HREE strategy.
- Lodestar's geological team is also assessing several additional US rare-earth opportunities identified through a desktop review of prospective belts, though no transaction has been announced.
CEO on the ground as Lodestar advances its US rare earth strategy
Lodestar Minerals CEO and Executive Director Coraline Blaud is currently on-site in Arizona with the Company’s geological team, conducting a technical and strategic review of the 100%-owned Virgin Mountain Heavy Rare-Earth Element (HREE) Project.
The visit follows high-grade rock-chip results and an approximately 40% land expansion in July 2026, which brought the project to 661 acres across 32 mining claims. The review is focused on integrating prior exploration results with direct field observations to plan the next phase of work, including a path toward potential maiden drilling.
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High-grade rock-chip results underpin Virgin Mountain’s potential
What the samples returned
The July 2026 rock-chip sampling programme returned four significant results across the xenotime-bearing HREE mineralised shear trend at Virgin Mountain. The headline result was 14.68% Total Rare Earth Oxide (TREO), including 0.76% Dy₂O₃ (dysprosium oxide), with a 59% Heavy Rare Earth Oxide (HREO) content — a notably high proportion of the heavier, more strategically valuable rare earth elements.
The full set of significant results is presented below.
| Sample ID | Sample Type | TREO | HREO% | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NGR051 | Rock chip | 14.68% | 59% | Includes 0.76% Dy₂O₃ |
| NGR050 | Rock chip | 1.48% | 54% | |
| NGR048 | Rock chip | 1.39% | 57% | |
| NGR049 | Rock chip | 0.56% | 52% |
Investors should note the cautionary statement included in the announcement: rock-chip samples are selective in nature and have a high potential for sampling bias. They should not be considered representative of the overall mineralised structure or zone.
Coraline Blaud, CEO and Executive Director
“As a geologist, being on the ground with the technical team provides an important opportunity to review Virgin Mountain directly in the context of the latest results and the exploration work completed over the past year. Virgin Mountain has a strong technical foundation, and the next phase of work will focus on refining our geological understanding, particularly mapping the mineralised trend beneath cover and defining the highest-priority targets for follow-up exploration…”
Understanding heavy rare earths — and why they matter for defence
Not all rare earth elements are equal. The Heavy Rare Earth Elements (HREEs) sit at the more valuable end of the rare earth spectrum, distinguished from Light Rare Earth Elements (LREEs) by their atomic weight and, critically, their applications. Elements such as dysprosium are essential components in the materials required to manufacture, maintain and sustain defence equipment — applications where there is no ready substitute.
At Virgin Mountain, the HREE mineralisation is hosted in xenotime, a phosphate mineral that naturally concentrates HREEs relative to LREEs. This mineralogy explains why the HREO fraction at Virgin Mountain — consistently 52–59% of total rare earth content across the sampled results — is so significant. A high HREO proportion is a quality indicator that distinguishes this deposit type from many other rare earth occurrences.
The strategic context strengthened further on 20 July 2026, when US President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14415, titled “Securing America’s Defence Supply Chains and Ensuring Domestic Acquisition of Critical Materials.” The order establishes US policy directing that critical materials required for defence equipment be sourced domestically or from allied nations, and accelerates the qualification of new domestic sources.
Why HREEs are attracting policy and investment attention:
- Essential for defence systems and equipment
- US domestic supply is limited, creating strategic vulnerability
- Executive Order 14415 is specifically designed to address this gap
The Company notes that it does not attribute any specific economic value to Virgin Mountain as a result of these government initiatives, considering the policy environment relevant only as broader strategic context.
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What comes next — the path toward potential maiden drilling
Exploration priorities at Virgin Mountain
Following completion of the current field review, Lodestar’s disclosed next steps at Virgin Mountain are sequenced as follows:
- Complete the current geological and strategic field review
- Progress the planned high-resolution radiometric (U/Th/K) survey across the expanded 661-acre project area
- Integrate geophysical results with geological and structural mapping, existing rock-chip geochemistry, and field observations
- Ground-truth priority targets along the 3km xenotime-bearing HREE mineralised shear trend
- Advance permitting and drill-site planning where appropriate
- Define and prioritise targets for potential maiden drilling
The timing and scale of any drilling programme will depend on completion and interpretation of the proposed exploration work and applicable permitting requirements.
Broader US rare earth pipeline under review
Alongside the Virgin Mountain technical review, the geological team — including Exploration Manager Finn Hunter and specialist consultants Robin Wilson and Dr Ross Chandler — completed a desktop review of prospective US rare-earth belts in April 2026. During the current US visit, Lodestar is assessing several potential opportunities identified through this process that could complement Virgin Mountain and enhance the Company’s exposure to US-based rare-earth exploration.
No transaction has been announced. The Company has stated it will make further disclosure in accordance with its continuous disclosure obligations when a potential transaction becomes sufficiently advanced and material to warrant disclosure.
Lodestar’s US rare earth strategy has drawn specialist attention from industry experts, with the company’s focus on heavy rare earth elements and domestic US supply positioning it within an increasingly policy-driven investment landscape.
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