35 / 111
34
The 2014 program consisted of the excavation of a test trench along the southwestern flank of Bull Hill in
August. The main mineralized zone (Bull Hill Main) was exposed and exploited for the collection of geological
information including dike dimension and structural continuity, grade variation, ore and gangue mineralogy, pit
slope stability engineering and confirmation of parameters utilized in ore resource calculations. The program netted
907 tonnes (1,000 tons) of material that is stored for future metallurgical work. Bulk samples were taken from the
material average 10.1% TREO. Additional crosscut excavation provided 45 tonnes (50 tons) of material to
determine physical upgrading potential of lower grades.
The 2015 condemnation program consisted of six rotary holes, and a total of 3000 feet was drilled in
September of 2015 to complete a program that was halted by the USFS in 2012 due to an archeological discovery.
The program evaluated the subsurface for carbonatite-hosted REE mineralization and followed up on gold
mineralization discovered in 2010 within and adjacent to the proposed PUG site. Based on results from the 2015
condemnation program, the PUG area is considered void of economic mineralization.
Bear Lodge REE Project
The Bear Lodge REE Project comprises several REE resource areas within the Bear Lodge Property. REE
mineralization at the Bear Lodge Property occurs in the central lobe of the Bear Lodge alkaline-igneous complex.
Most of the important identified REE deposits and occurrences within the Bear Lodge alkaline complex are
contained within the Company’s block of unpatented lode mining claims. The REE deposits are located primarily in
the vicinity of the Bull Hill deposit.
REE mineralized bodies occur as dikes, veins, and stockworks within the Bull Hill and Whitetail deposit
areas of the Bear Lodge Property. The mineralization includes a well-defined, near-surface, oxidized FMR zone; a
near-surface, oxidized, but incompletely leached, carbonatite zone (oxide-carbonate zone); a transitional or mixed
zone (oxide + sulfide); and a deeper sulfide-bearing carbonatite (a high-carbonate igneous rock) zone. The oxide-
carbonate and transitional zones were referred to collectively as a “transitional zone” in some early previous news
releases and technical reports. The mineralized zones were subsequently sub-classified, based on key characteristics
of those zones. The FMR dikes and veins contain no matrix carbonates or sulfides. The sulfides are completely
oxidized to hydrous iron oxides, and the non-REE bearing carbonate minerals (calcite and strontianite) show near-
complete leaching from the zone, which ranges from the surface to depths of about 90–150 meters. The oxide-
carbonate zone generally occurs beneath the oxide zone but approaches the surface locally in select dikes. It is
characterized by the near absence of sulfides, with the residual iron oxides formed during almost complete oxidation
of the former sulfide minerals, and by variable amounts of relict matrix carbonates (calcite ± strontianite) and the
REE mineral, ancylite (a hydrous Sr-REE carbonate).
Bull Hill Mine
The Bull Hill Mine contains the Mineral Resources reported in our Technical Report, as discussed below.
The Bull Hill Mine Mineral Resources, for purposes of this Annual Report, comprise mineralized material from both
the Bull Hill and Whitetail Ridge deposit resource areas. The mineralized bodies occur as steeply dipping, FMR-
carbonatite dike swarms and associated stockwork. Geological interpretation of results from the 2010–2014 drill
and trench programs indicates that the Bull Hill resource area is dominated by northwest-striking mineralized bodies
in the southern two-thirds of the resource area, while the northern part of the resource area exhibits a transitional
change in strike from dominantly northwesterly to almost due north. The dike swarm primarily intrudes heterolithic
intrusive breccia of the Bull Hill diatreme and adjacent trachytic and phonolitic intrusive rocks. Carbonatite dikes at
depth are interpreted to transition toward the surface into oxide-carbonate and FMR bodies. The mineralized
structures range in size from veinlets to large dikes more than 30 meters in width. The Bull Hill deposit resource
consists of one dominant dike set and several subsidiary dike sets in a swarm that has dimensions of more than 457
meters along strike and less than 100 meters in width. The dikes appear to pinch and swell in both strike and dip
directions, and they can be traced in drill holes more than 305 meters down dip.
The Whitetail Ridge deposit occurs about
700 meters northwest of the Bull Hill deposit. The REE
mineralization consists of northwest- and north-striking FMR dikes, and an FMR stockwork zone that is also
elongated northeasterly, with dimensions of roughly 380 meters by 290 meters. The enveloping gravity and
radiometric geophysical anomalies and coincident soil geochemical anomalies are larger and may indicate a broader
distribution of REE mineralization beneath the extensive soil and colluvial cover.
Drilling conducted in 2011
through 2013 indicates that much of the mineralization is confined within the volume of the Whitetail Ridge