Zenith in rare earths sale

Zenith Minerals has shifted its focus to gold and copper after announcing the sale of its rare earths business and project in Wyoming.

American Rare Earths, based in Sydney, will pay $100,000 in cash and shares to acquire Zenith’s Wyoming Rare business, which operates the Laramie Rare Earths Elements project in the US.

Zenith said the sale would allow the company to focus on its core gold and copper projects, which includes the Spilt Rocks lithium-cobalt-gold project in Western Australia where recent surface drilling revealed a hit of 16 metres at 6.3 grams per tonne of gold.

West Perth-based Zenith also wholly owns three projects in Queensland comprising the Red Mountain gold project, Flanagans gold-copper project and Develen Creek copper-zinc project.

The company secured the Laramie rare earths project in Wyoming last October, which American Rare Earths chairman Creagh O'Connor said had similarities to its La Paz project in Arizona.

He said the acquisition broadened ARR’s portfolio of US targets for an attractive price.

“Wyoming is historically known to host rare earths,” Mr O’Connor said.

“American Rare Earth’s next steps include further mapping, surface sampling and geophysical surveying to establish the overall extent of the mineralised zone(s) and target the highest grade areas for drill testing, along with further mineralogical and beneficiation studies.”

ARR will issue 2.5 million company shares to Zenith priced at 2 cents each, and pay $50,000 cash.

The deal is expected to complete by the end of the year.

Shares in Zenith were up 9.5 per cent at 3:26pm AEST to trade at 12 cents each.