News: Suppliers
15 May 2026
US Critical Materials and Bayan Mining and Minerals sign MoU
Private rare-earths exploration and process development company US Critical Materials Corp (USCM) of Salt Lake City, Utah, USA and Bayan Mining and Minerals Ltd of Perth, Western Australia (an ASX-listed company developing rare-earth element projects and processing technologies) have executed a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MoU) to evaluate rare-earth processing technologies on high-grade mineralization from US Critical Materials’ Sheep Creek Project in Montana. The collaboration supports the shared objective of accelerating a US-based rare-earth processing pathway aligned with national security, and the advancement of high-priority AI technologies.
US Critical Materials’ Sheep Creek Project in Ravalli County, Montana, is the highest-grade validated rare-earths deposit in the USA, containing light and heavy rare-earth elements, including gallium, scandium, yttrium and other strategic minerals. USCM says that it continues to advance its integration strategy through its technical partnerships, including ongoing work with Idaho National Laboratory, Columbia University, and Montana Technological Institute.
Bayan holds an exclusive global license to a suite of four rare-earth processing technologies invented by the Colorado School of Mines. The collaboration will evaluate the applicability of these technologies — focused on beneficiation, leaching, and separation — to Sheep Creek’s bastnaesite- and ancylite-hosted rare-earths systems.
Advancing domestic processing capability
The collaboration will undertake a structured metallurgical test program to assess recovery performance, process efficiency, and flowsheet optimization. Workstreams will be coordinated through a joint technical committee, with US Critical Materials maintaining oversight to ensure alignment with US domestic-processing and national security objectives.
The evaluation will include laboratory validation, iterative optimization, and scalability assessment. The results will inform potential downstream integration and future development decisions.
“This collaboration allows US Critical Materials to evaluate innovative processing technologies on some of the highest-grade rare-earth mineralization in the United States,” says USCM’s executive chair Harvey Kaye. “Our focus is to accelerate a US-based processing pathway that strengthens national security, reduces foreign dependence, and unlocks the full potential of the Sheep Creek Project,” he adds.
“We look forward to supporting US Critical Materials’ evaluation of our technologies as they assess potential applicability to Sheep Creek’s unique mineral systems,” comments Bayan Mining and Minerals’s CEO Nathan Kong. “This collaboration provides an opportunity to demonstrate the versatility of our processing platform within a US-focused development framework.”
Pathway to commercialization
US Critical Materials and Bayan will assess opportunities to establish a US-based pilot or demonstration facility to support technology validation and scale-up. Any future development will be integrated with US government and commercial industry requirements.
All intellectual property, data, samples and technical outputs generated from Sheep Creek remain the exclusive property of US Critical Materials. Any new intellectual property arising from the collaboration will be subject to definitive agreements.
Potential strategic investment
US Critical Materials is evaluating a potential investment in Bayan that would provide visibility into complementary processing technologies. Any investment remains subject to definitive agreements and regulatory approvals.
