American Rare Earths Names CTO Who Bridges Mine to Metal Production

American Rare Earths has named Dr Sanja Miskovic, a minerals engineer who simultaneously holds the Chief Technology Officer role at the company’s downstream metallization partner, as its Chief Technical Advisor, connecting the Halleck Creek mine directly to the metal-making stage through a single named individual for the first time.

The timing is deliberate. The Halleck Creek pre-feasibility study (PFS) is in its final review and optimisation phase, targeting completion in late Q3 2026. Feasibility-stage drilling is active in Wyoming, and the memorandum of understanding (MoU) with metallization specialist Novex LLC was signed only weeks ago, in August 2026.

That places the appointment at the exact inflection point where a technical gap between flowsheet design and metal conversion could otherwise open up. For readers tracking the domestic rare earth supply chain, what follows here explains what this hire actually changes at the project level, not just what the announcement says.

Who Dr Miskovic is and what her appointment covers

The appointment, reported on 10 September 2026, is substantive rather than cosmetic, and her credentials make that clear.

Dr Miskovic holds a PhD in Minerals Engineering from Virginia Tech, earned in 2011, and currently holds an academic position at the University of British Columbia’s Norman B. Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering. Her career spans more than two decades in minerals and process engineering, with a specific focus on moving technology from early laboratory work through pilot-scale trials and into full industrial operation.

At American Rare Earths, her technical scope is broad and central to how the project gets built:

• Flowsheet development, the sequence of steps that turns raw ore into a saleable product
• Mineral beneficiation, the process of concentrating valuable minerals from mined rock
• Hydrometallurgical recovery, using chemical solutions to extract rare earth elements
• Scale-up of processing technology from laboratory through pilot to industrial implementation

Here is the part that changes the calculation. Dr Miskovic concurrently serves as CTO at Novex LLC, the company’s downstream metallization partner, which operates an advanced technology development centre in Bellingham, Washington.

That dual mandate is not a coincidence of two separate jobs. It means the same person overseeing metallization technology at Novex now also owns the flowsheet decisions upstream at Halleck Creek.

For investors tracking the critical minerals space, that distinction matters. A hire that bridges the technical gap between ore processing and magnet-precursor production is qualitatively different from a standard advisory role, and most junior rare earth developers lack that structural link entirely.

What the appointment means for Halleck Creek’s timeline and supply chain ambitions

To understand why this hire lands now rather than later, look at where the project actually sits on the development curve.

The PFS is in its final review and optimisation phase, with completion targeted for late Q3 2026. Feasibility-stage drilling is underway at the Cowboy State Mine (Red Mountain), comprising up to 3,050 metres of HQ core across 19 holes to support ore reserve estimation and mine design. Pilot plant rare earth oxide production is targeted for late Q2 2027.

The resource behind it is large. The JORC estimate reports 2.63 billion tonnes at an average grade of 3,292 ppm total rare earth oxide (TREO), including 1.48 billion tonnes in the Measured and Indicated categories, the two higher-confidence classifications under the JORC reporting code.

Miskovic’s mandate connects directly to the August 2026 Novex MoU. The two parties are working toward processing neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr) oxide from the Halleck Creek demonstration plant, while optimising recovery and purity for samarium, dysprosium, and terbium.

An internal technology review identified high-temperature molten salt electrolysis as the preferred route for converting oxide into metal.

Molten salt electrolysis was selected as the “cleanest” oxide-to-metal conversion route because it reduces dependence on anhydrous hydrogen fluoride and avoids consuming saleable rare earth metal as a reductant.

The read for investors is straightforward. By appointing a single technical lead across both entities now, ahead of feasibility completion, the company is treating the flowsheet-to-metallization handoff as a technical risk to manage today, not a commercial arrangement to negotiate later.

From demonstration plant to domestic magnet: the integration logic

American Rare Earths and Novex plan to co-design a U.S. rare earth metal production facility, with NdPr, samarium, dysprosium, and terbium as the focus elements.

The MoU allows 12 months to finalise a definitive long-term supply agreement. That window means Miskovic’s technical leadership at both companies will be active during the most consequential design phase, when the choices that determine whether the integrated model works are actually made.

The supply chain gap this appointment is designed to address

Zoom out, and this hire stops looking like a company HR event and starts looking like one node in a national rebuilding effort.

The scale of the problem is stark. U.S. demand for rare-earth magnets reached approximately 48,000 tonnes in 2025, while domestic sources supplied only about 300 tonnes. From 2019 to 2022, the U.S. imported more than 95% of its consumed rare earths, predominantly from China.

U.S. rare-earth magnet demand hit roughly 48,000 tonnes in 2025. Domestic supply was about 300 tonnes.

The Department of Energy (DOE) maps the missing pieces of the domestic chain across three segments:

• Separation, isolating individual rare earth elements from mixed concentrate
• Metallization, converting separated oxides into usable metal
• Magnet manufacture, producing the finished magnets themselves

The chokepoint that Miskovic’s role targets has shifted. It is no longer light-oxide separation but heavy-rare-earth metallization, specifically dysprosium and terbium, where pilot-scale production remained at kilogram quantities in 2025 with no sustained commercial-scale U.S. output.

For context on where American Rare Earths sits on the same development arc, MP Materials offers the clearest domestic benchmark. It commissioned separation at Mountain Pass in 2023, produced commercial NdPr metal at its Texas Independence facility in 2024, and made its first NdFeB magnets in 2025.

Policy is moving to close the gap. The DOE announced nearly $1 billion in critical minerals funding in 2025, including a notice of funding opportunity of up to $134 million for a Rare Earth Elements Demonstration Facility, announced on 1 December 2025.

The takeaway for a U.S. investor: the distance between 300 tonnes supplied and 48,000 tonnes demanded is the single clearest measure of how far this effort still has to travel, and it reframes an integration hire as a piece of national industrial policy in miniature.

What the Miskovic appointment signals about the road to 2031

Set against that backdrop, the appointment is a technically credible step, not a resolution.

American Rare Earths holds the largest domestic U.S. rare earth deposit on a TREO basis, sits within weeks of PFS completion, has a downstream MoU in place, and has now appointed a technical lead who spans both the upstream process engineering and the downstream metallization design. That reduces the handoff risk that typically fragments junior developers.

The scale of what remains is worth stating plainly. Public production guidance sits at around 2031, the average development horizon for a new U.S. mine is 29 years, and the 1 January 2027 cutoff for China-sourced magnets creates near-term pressure the 2031 target does not yet address. Analysts frame capital attraction and project financing as the primary remaining challenge.

Phase 2 development on federal land offers greater than 80-year mine-life potential across the 8,108-acre Halleck Creek package.

The measure of this appointment will not sit in a press release. It will show up, or fail to, in three concrete events investors should watch:

1. PFS completion, targeted for late Q3 2026
2. A definitive Novex supply agreement, within 12 months of the August 2026 MoU
3. A capital financing announcement alongside technical milestones

Repeat the framing that anchors all of it: 300 tonnes supplied against 48,000 tonnes demanded. This hire is a signal to track, not a conclusion to bank.

This article is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Investors should conduct their own research and consult with financial professionals before making investment decisions. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Financial projections are subject to market conditions and various risk factors, and forward-looking statements are speculative and subject to change based on market developments and company performance.