Hello, and welcome to Virtual Investor Conferences. My name is John Vigliotti, and on behalf of OTC Markets, we're very pleased you joined us for the second day of the Precious Metals and Critical Materials Conference. The first live presentation of the day is from American Rare Earths. Please note you can submit questions for the presenter in the box to the left of the slides. You can also view a company's availability for one-on-one meetings through the Schedule Meetings tab found on the conference platform. At this point, I'm very pleased to welcome our first presenter of the day, Chris Gibbs. He's the Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of American Rare Earths, which trades on the OTCQX Best Market under the symbol AMRRY and on the ASX under the symbol ARR. Welcome back, Chris.
Thank you, John. I appreciate the opportunity to join you today and to share the story of American Rare Earths. And look, right now, American Rare Earths, I believe it's an exciting time. We're in the right place at the right time with the right commodity. I'll just take you through to the disclaimer slide and the forward-looking statement I've urged you to please review, and there may be some forward-looking statements as we go through today. Look, it's an exciting time at American Rare Earths, and once again, I appreciate the opportunity to share with you our story. And look, we've made some significant progress during 2024.
And look, American Rare Earths, we have a flagship project, the largest rare earth project in the United States. And at this project, it's the Halleck Creek Project. And we've delivered this year on a number of our commitments.
You'll see here the impact this has had on our share price in that we've seen some outstanding results. We've delivered on a scoping study. We've had some great announcements where we confirmed a non-binding letter of interest from the EXIM Bank for the full capital for this project. We've also completed a very successful drill program for infill drilling at this project. We've also received government funding from the state of Wyoming, who were great supporters of this project. We've also created an entity, Wyoming Rare, which has this project. The reason for this is to really create a new pathway to bring in a strategic investor partner at the project level for the Halleck Creek Project. As part of that, we've engaged BMO Capital Markets to lead that initiative.
Look, we've had an outstanding 2024, and I'm excited to share with you today the journey not only that we've been on, but where American Rare Earths is going and what makes American Rare Earths such a great company for investors to invest in. Over the past year, we've seen some great share price movement. Now, this is on the ASX, but it's very much mirrored what we've seen as well on the OTC markets. Over the course of the last year, we've just seen around an 80% increase in our share price. This is unlike a lot of other rare earth companies or people in the resource sector. You can see this is as a result of really the amount of work that has gone on within the company and some great news flow and some great developments.
And that's as a result of the outstanding team that we've got here within the United States. Look, American Rare Earths, who are we and what do we do? American Rare Earths, we've got the largest rare earth project. And the rare earths that we are focused on are neodymium and praseodymium. And these are the magnetic rare earths that are required for most of the things we use in our everyday life today. That's from these rare earths are from things from our telephones through to a vast range of consumer products.
When we go into Home Depot or Lowe's today, all these battery-operated technologies and equipment out there all require neodymium and praseodymium to actually these magnets within these engines. And likewise, within the from wind farms through to motor vehicles. And look, a large use of these are also in national and defense purposes.
But what we've got is the largest rare earth project in the heart of the United States in Wyoming. And the U.S. government is very determined to promote domestic mining of rare earths. And this has been a problem that has been recognized for some time. As we all recall, even with some of the shortages on the chips, et cetera, we've seen impacts to our supply chain within the United States.
And most recently, we've also seen the Chinese government come out with bans on certain rare earths that are going to be exported. And so this presents a serious challenge to the economy from not just an economic perspective, but also from a national security perspective. So at American Rare Earths, as I said, we've got the largest project of this type in the United States. And we've got a pathway to permitting.
We are on not only federal land, but we've got a large portion of this project on state land, which enables us to permit this project in our estimation is less than two years, and we've got a strong mandate from and support from the federal government, and in particular, the Wyoming government, where we've got government funding and where we're seeking to fast track this project, and what we've seen within the rare earth sector is the long-term projection for rare earths is a there's a growth in this market from between 8%-10% CAGR growth rate, and that's projected to continue to climb as the demand for these rare earths increase due to not only from a supply perspective, but just really the whole consumer market and the national defense and also the industrial sector that requires these rare earths.
American Rare Earths, where are we located and what projects do we have? As I outlined earlier, we've got this outstanding project, the Halleck Creek Project in the heart of Wyoming, an outstanding mining jurisdiction, and that's our flagship project. But we've also got some other projects. We've got another great project in Arizona and another project called the Beaver Creek Project in Wyoming and a project in Nevada, which is the Searchlight Project. But the primary project that we're focused on today is the Halleck Creek Project.
As I outlined, that's our flagship project, and we're very excited with what this means for the United States. If I just take you through to who are we at American Rare Earths, our high-level corporate snapshot. Our share price today has been hovering around that AUD 0.28. That's from an Australian dollar perspective.
Shares outstanding, and you can see our market cap, but probably the key point I wish for people to take away is that earlier slide where you can see really the growth and the return there for investors, and what we've also got is an outstanding board. On our board of directors, our Chairman, Richard Hudson, he's based in Australia and has been a very successful businessman and comes from a finance and governance perspective.
Sten Gustafson is our Vice Chair and also the Chair of the Wyoming entity. Sten is a CEO and has lots of experience here in the United States and based out of Houston. Melissa Sanderson is an outstanding lady, an ex-diplomat, and has served the U.S. government for a number of years and is very well connected in the U.S. government perspective, and also was a head of ESG for Freeport-McMoRan.
And Hugh Keller, who is from Australia and again, a successful businessman within Australia. And then myself. But more importantly, what we've got is an outstanding team on the ground here in the United States, led by Joe Evers, who is a Wyomingite, born and raised in Wyoming, and is very well connected in Wyoming and played an integral role in securing this Wyoming funding for us. And our technical team there with Dwight Kinnes and John Mansanti, who's a senior advisor for us, and Tommy von Finkenstein, who is leading our efforts on our strategy and development.
But we've got a great team on the ground in the United States and a great team corporately. And we're super excited with what this means because everything starts out with having the right team in place. And as you can see from our results, we're delivering results here for our shareholders.
So what's the real problem? I've outlined some of the problem earlier in that these rare earths that are required for today for everything we use in our everyday life is increasing. But this whole market, though, has been dominated from a supply chain perspective. It's been dominated by China. And what we've recently seen is China putting out bans on certain rare earths. And this is what happens in this metal space. For me, I've worked in the metal sector now for a number of years, decades actually. I've run mines. I've built mines. I've run metals refinery. I've also run a chemicals plant in Baltimore. And I've also worked in a number of corporate roles. And I've seen this happen in other products from where I've been involved producing metal products. And it's a challenge.
And right now, today, we've seen China dominate the rare earth markets and play with some of the markets. And we've seen this impact. And so this problem facing the U.S. today is where to ensure these rare earths. And currently, you can see the percentages of mining. But more importantly, from processing these rare earths, it's dominated by China. And that presents a real risk and a real challenge for us here in the United States.
And not just the United States, but for allies as well, such as folks in Australia and other countries. So it's a threat from an economic perspective, but also, more importantly, from a national security perspective. So what we've got is this outstanding project in the heart of Wyoming. This project could not be in a better mining jurisdiction. Wyoming itself is regarded as one of the top mining jurisdictions in the world.
This cornerstone asset, the Halleck Creek Project, is on state lands, which enables us to move this project and get this project permitted in a very fast track manner in less than two years. What we've got here is a whopping 2.34 billion tons of a resource. This resource is sufficient. It contains sufficient resources that could supply the U.S. demand for at least 100 years. This gives you the size of this project. The other piece is we've only just barely scratched the surface at this outstanding deposit. We've only drilled on around 16% of this deposit. That 2.34 billion ton JORC resource does not take into account that we've drilled down to 300 meters, where we've seen the same consistent grade continue down at depth beyond 300 meters, and it's open at width. This thing is huge.
And as we all know here in the United States, big is great. And this project is transformational and has the opportunity to solve this supply chain challenge for the United States. And that's why also folks like the EXIM Bank, the State of Wyoming, and also why the Bank of Montreal are very interested in supporting us with this project. As one of the folks from BMO mentioned, this project is a unicorn. It is unique. And that's why I'm super excited about this project. I've been involved with this project for now just over three years. And we started out with really a postage stamp and just some field claims. And we've since created a great project, done a whole series of drilling, and have identified that we've got a significant resource here in the ground.
We've come out with the scoping study earlier this year, which showed some outstanding economics for this project. Right now, we've continued on with the drilling for this project, and we're moving the project forward through our feasibility phases. There's some significant milestones that we are coming up towards, which are around coming out with the next round of our feasibility studies. We're completing further metallurgical test work. This project, I also believe it's a unicorn and has some outstanding capability. Most importantly, it really solves the challenge for the United States, which is where to ensure these critical materials. There's some other great projects in the world in this rare earth space, but they're in either Australia, Africa, in Russia, or they're in Brazil, or they're in China.
What we have here right under our noses in the heart of the United States, in Wyoming, which is an outstanding mining jurisdiction. This project's just off the I-25. It's power stations close by, people close by. The University of Wyoming is only about a 45-minute drive from this site. It's an outstanding not only jurisdiction, but location and great support from the local folks on the ground. Phase one of what we're doing is really focused on the state part of the project. The wider picture here, this project, it is huge. In terms of some of the scoping study outcomes, we have really shown here that the initial CapEx is around $400 million, and it's got a payback period in less than three years. Most importantly, even at depressed prices, this project makes money.
But the long-term projection here for neodymium and praseodymium is very bullish. And not only that, but as I said before, we've barely scratched the surface with this project. And so we're super excited with what this project can mean for the United States. And back to just this slide here just shows, it's a little bit messy. I apologize for that. But the key message I want to get across here is that we've only really accounted for about 16% of the total surface area that we've drilled on.
And not only that, but we haven't taken into account the full depth of this project, where we've already gone down to depths of 300 meters. But the JORC resource itself does not go down to that full depth. And so there's significant opportunity to add to the size and scale of this.
We've already got sufficient resource that could support the current levels of domestic consumption for the United States. But the projections here are that for neodymium and praseodymium, that the supply and demand will continue to grow as we shift and as we continue to use these products that are these rare earths. The state of Wyoming, we could not be in a better location. Today, I'm talking to you from Golden, Colorado. And Golden, Colorado, where the Colorado School of Mines is. But this is only about a three-hour drive from the project.
So that's how close you are from Golden and from Denver to this project. But Wyoming is an outstanding mining jurisdiction, one of the best mining jurisdictions in the world. And we could not be more pleased with the support that we've been provided from the state of Wyoming.
We've got officers as well and a team on the ground in Wyoming and setting up our facilities there. And again, it's a great jurisdiction. And the state of Wyoming have provided us with this matching funding of around, at this stage, it's around $7 million, where every dollar that we spend, we get 50 cents back from the Wyoming government. And that's for any dollar that we're spending on this Halleck Creek project. And that's outstanding support for where we're at today to take us through to this pre-feasibility study. But the Wyoming, it's a great jurisdiction to be part of. And again, we've got some great support. And right now, we've commenced this state permitting. Yesterday, we were talking with the team that are working on the permitting. And there's lots of great work happening there.
And we see no barriers or any major issues to obtain permitting for this project. Now, permitting is a process you need to go through, and you need to do your work, and you need to consult with the communities and with the respective folks and ensure that we do things right. And that's what we're doing at the Halleck Creek Project. So we're positioning ourselves at American Rare Earths to deliver significant value to you, our shareholders.
And I'm a shareholder as well, so I'm very keen to deliver for our shareholders. And because this Halleck Creek Project just represents an outstanding opportunity. It is a multi-generational mine. And I liken this to this deposit could be the Bingham Canyon type deposit, or it is just an outstanding type deposit in the United States. And as I said before, we've barely scratched the surface.
And this project is the answer to supplying these rare earths within the United States. We've got the right structure, the partnerships in place to really accelerate this project. We've got some more positive near-term catalysts and news flow anticipated over the next six to 12 months. And I'll talk shortly on some of that. But some of the other key pieces here, though, is that the market fundamentals are in our favor. And the demand for these rare earths is not going away. And this has been long recognized by the U.S. government. And I know that with changing government, that this support will continue.
The state of Wyoming is a very strong mining jurisdiction and a very strong resource state. And we're super excited with what the year 2025 will bring. From the capital markets perspective, we are very well funded.
We've got significant cash in the bank and financial resources to take us well beyond this PFS. At the last quarter, we had over $12 million in the bank. We've got this government funding, which is around $7 million. We've also got a $3 million promissory note, and so we're very well funded, but what we've also been doing is we've engaged BMO Capital Markets to really focus on bringing in a strategic investor and the right partner for us to move this project forward, and that's our key focus here as we seek to create value here at American Rare Earths, but the Bank of Montreal, I'm super excited.
I'm keen to see what happens over the next coming months as we seek to bring in that strategic partner, so near-term catalysts and news flow. We completed a drill campaign recently, and we announced those drill results.
And right now, we're updating our resource models and our mine plans. We will be coming out very shortly with some news on that for our investors. We were also progressing the state permitting. And as I said before, we've engaged BMO, and they're progressing this U.S.-based investment. And the reason we're focused on that is we're very keen to move the project forward in a non-dilutive manner for our shareholders. And that's the key message I want to put across. I've seen very successful projects where we move forward on this basis.
And that's our strategy to really bring this project forward to the next phase. And we've also got metallurgical test work that's ongoing for this project. The metallurgical work that has happened to date has demonstrated that we can process and refine this rare earth in a very simplified manner.
The ore at Halleck Creek, unlike other ores, it is an ore that is low on uranium and thorium, and it's very easily separated. That work is ongoing, and we'll continue to bring those results into our scoping studies. That's our next step, is really our pre-feasibility study and coming out with that pre-feasibility study in 2025. Halleck Creek could be. It is, from where I'm sitting, it could be not only the largest rare earth mine within the United States, but it could be the multi-generational project. That is the first major mine of this type built in the United States since Mountain Pass. That's the opportunity, and that's where I see us delivering some significant value to our shareholders.
So as you can tell, I'm very excited with this company and what we have here at not only Halleck Creek, but American Rare Earths and the journey we've been on. But we've got a great 2025 ahead, and I look forward to continuing to keep our shareholders informed. And so thank you very much. And right now, I've done enough talking, and I know there's a few questions that have just started to come through, so I will attempt to answer some of those questions. And those that I cannot, I will come back to you on. So as I'm going through the list here, the first question I've got here is, okay, how much acreage is owned by the company versus lease from the state, and how long are the leases?
Look, in terms of our land package, we've got the mining leases for the state, well, the Cowboy State Mine, which is the project that we're pursuing at this stage, which is on state lands. And this is what the scoping study on is, is on state lands. And we have the mining leases for those projects. And in terms of the exact timing of those mining leases, I'll have to come back to you on that exact time, but it's well beyond the mine life that we've got there for that Cowboy State Mine. But that Cowboy State Mine is only just a fraction of what we've got here at the Halleck Creek project.
The balance of the project is on federal lands, and there is also some privately held land within that as well. But I'll have to come back to you.
In terms of the exact numbers, I will have to confirm that for you in terms of, but we'll come back to that shareholder who asked that question. The next question I've got here is, how confident with American Rare Earths are you being able to complete refinement of your own? Sorry, refinement of your own, or do the raw materials, or will they be sold before refinement? Look, that question, our vision here, and I've been across this, I've run mines, and I've also run a metals refinery. What we're focused here at American Rare Earths is not only mining, but producing a metal, and I should have outlined that earlier in that unlike other folks, like currently Mountain Pass, for example, produce a concentrate that is shipped off to China.
Then it comes back from China in the form of neodymium, praseodymium, either magnets or as a metal. Our vision is to not only mine, but to produce metal oxides and metal products and sell those metal oxide products in the United States. In my previous life, that's what I did. We not only mined, but at the refinery, we were refined and produced metal products, high-purity metal products that are then sold to magnet manufacturers. That's our plan, and that's our vision for the Halleck Creek project. Okay. One of the questions here, can you give an idea of the revenue and profit margin for the next three years? That question, right now, we are a development company. We are not producing any revenues or profit for the next three years.
The stage we're at right now is that we are developing this major project, which will produce an NPV and profit once we're in operations. Overall, people have asked me the question, when do you see this project coming into operation?
I've built these projects before and similar projects in the resource sector, and look, these projects, from the phase we're at right now, we could fast track this project, and with the right support and right partner, you could be into commercial production in less than five years, and that's the timeline that I'd like to see where we're at and be producing profits and revenues beyond that, but right now, we're at that phase where we're in those feasibility phases, and the next phase is coming out with this pre-feasibility study, which will have all those project economics in there.
I think we are right at our mark in terms of a couple of more questions, but I will have to unfortunately circle back given the time crunch that we're on. I do thank our investors, and I do thank you for the questions, and we will come back to those that have not been able to answer all your questions, but in summary, I'd like to thank the shareholders. It's an exciting time journey that we've been on, and this problem of onshoring critical materials in the United States is not going away, but at American Rare Earths, we believe we have the solution with the largest resource in the ground in the heart of Wyoming, an outstanding mining jurisdiction in the heart of the United States. Thank you, folks, and I hope everyone has an outstanding day. Cheers.