US Critical Materials Confirms Nation's Highest-Grade Rare Earth and Gallium Deposit
Reducing America's Foreign Dependence: Looking beyond Greenland and Ukraine
SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 26, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- US Critical Materials Corp., a rare earth exploration and process technology company, is pleased to announce groundbreaking results from its Sheep Creek rare earth deposit in Montana. Independent findings confirm that Sheep Creek holds the highest reported grades of any known deposit in the United States, along with the highest concentrations of gallium—a material essential to national security.
With grades approaching 9% (89,932 ppm) and combined neodymium and praseodymium concentrations of 2.4% (23,810 ppm), as measured by Activation Labs ( actlabs.com), an independent geochemical and geo-metallurgical analysis lab, Sheep Creek surpasses any other known domestic resource. US Critical Materials mineral claims cover approximately 10 square miles. The initial 2.5 square mile site contains over 60 carbonatite formations, underscoring its vast potential.
'US Critical Materials has higher rare earth grades than those found in Greenland and Ukraine,' said Jim Hedrick, President of US Critical Materials, and the former Rare Earth Commodity Specialist at the US Geological Survey (USGS). Mr. Hedrick's career spans over 30 years evaluating geological formations and properties for the U.S. government.
'Recent discussions have highlighted US interest in Ukraine's and Greenland's rare earth deposits. However, according to data from each territory's official Geological Surveys, Sheep Creek's rare earth grades exceed known deposits in these two areas. Furthermore, the scientific verification of Sheep Creek's mineral content is more comprehensive and precise than in Greenland or Ukraine,' stated Hedrick.
Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with Idaho National Laboratory (INL)
The company's Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with Idaho National Laboratory (INL), a national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy, positions us to be a leader of sustainable, environmentally responsible processing solutions. US Critical Materials is committed to environmentally responsible extraction methods. The Company has extended its CRADA with INL through February 2027. This partnership focuses on refining sustainable separation and processing technologies for carbonatite ore, ensuring minimal environmental impact while maximizing resource efficiency.
Strategic Importance of Sheep Creek
The critical minerals at Sheep Creek are vital for defense and space capabilities, advanced manufacturing, and environmentally-friendly technologies. These findings reinforce the site's strategic significance, particularly as global competition for rare earth resources intensifies. U.S. Critical Materials looks forward to supporting the administration's focus on developing critical mineral sovereignty for national defense.
Gallium: A National Security Imperative
Sheep Creek's high gallium concentrations come at a crucial time, following China's ban on gallium exports to the United States. The measured gallium grades at Sheep Creek range from 180 to 385 ppm— far exceeding the 50ppm that the U.S. had been importing, predominantly from China.
Gallium is a key component in:
Semiconductors and microchips for defense and consumer electronics
Advanced radar, communication systems, and Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Satellite and space technology
'Over my 30+ year career evaluating properties for the U.S. government, I have never encountered a deposit with the high rare earth and gallium grades being generated at Sheep Creek,' stated Jim Hedrick.
About US Critical Materials
US Critical Materials Corp. is a privately held rare earth exploration and process development company headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah. With substantial mineral holdings in Montana and Idaho, the company is dedicated to securing a domestically sustainable, high-grade supply of rare earth elements and gallium, reducing US reliance on imports, and ensuring a stable, independent supply chain for national security. We are currently utilizing and developing multiple environmentally friendly technologies for exploration and processing of rare earths and critical minerals.
Media Contact
Brigit Hennaman
212-805-3005
Rachel Winn
Director of Operations
US Critical Materials Corp.
801-322-3401
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Wang, who competed in national math competitions in high school, dropped out of MIT after one year to pursue the startup dream, teaming up with Lucy Guo, a product designer at Quora, who had herself dropped out of Carnegie Mellon to pursue a Thiel Fellowship and had been Snap's first female designer. The duo originally planned to create tech for a doctors' concierge service, but after joining startup accelerator Y Combinator in summer of 2016, they eventually pivoted to data labelling. 'They were originally working on completely different ideas and spent most of the first summer just figuring out what to build,' recalls Friedman, who served as Wang and Guo's partner at Y Combinator in 2016. Once it pivoted to data labelling, Scale found the perfect customer base in the rapidly-expanding, and well-funded, group of startups working to build self-driving vehicles. Wang embodied the company credo of 'Ambition shapes reality,' said an early employee who left in 2022. 'Alex himself would get deeply involved in customer engagements when needed, including deep-diving into both technical challenges and helping to network and negotiate with higher-ups on the business side to help us win customers and new business.' Another source, the former Scale manager, described two-hour-long daily meetings 'where we would review every single account.' The routine was not universally enjoyed inside the ranks, the person said, 'but honestly, in retrospect it forced everyone to be very rigorous.' Tensions between the two cofounders soon surfaced as the company grew. Guo had recruited Wang, and she was the original CEO. But the two founders could not get along, clashing over how they each deemed their counterpart was handling their duties, according to a source familiar with the matter. The board sided with Wang, who became CEO, and Guo left the company in 2018, according to this person's account. 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Scale has said it will continue to operate as an independent company (with Wang as chairman), serving other customers. Under the terms of the deal, Meta will spend a minimum of $500 million a year for Scale data over the next five years, according to the source familiar with the negotiations. But the perception of neutrality now looks all but dead. Following the announcement, news reports said that both Google and OpenAI were planning to end their relationship with Scale. Some industry observers speculate that Meta's real strategy all along was a data landgrab, a move to secure a major source of one of the vital components for building AI models—and to deprive others of it. But several industry insiders that Fortune spoke to were skeptical of the theory. Ryan Kolln, CEO of Scale AI competitor Appen, said he doubts the Meta/Scale deal is about consolidating data vendors or starving competitors seeking data. 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As Wang demonstrated at the Utah confab in 2023, and in Scale's full-page Washington Post ad in January ('Dear President Trump, America must win the AI War'), Meta's new investment is well-positioned on that front. It's also not gone unnoticed that Michael Kratsios, the Trump Administration's director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Science Advisor to the President, worked at Scale in between the two Trump terms. 'He's been very smart and extremely clever,' the former DoD official said about Wang. 'He seemed to lean into something that a lot of people have a little bit of a revulsion against, which is, engage in the politics of Washington. I think Alex, whether it's by generation or personality, or whatever, he really got that that needed to happen – he seemed to have a real sixth sense.' But while Meta could use all the help it can get in D.C. ('No one loves to hate anyone more than Washington loves to hate Zuckerberg; it's kind of a pastime for some people,' a beltway insider said), Wang will ultimately need to deliver more than the services of a lobbyist for the partnership with Zuckerberg to be successful. To Wang's fans, including one source who has known Wang for about a decade, his versatility will help Meta open doors and navigate whatever challenges lie ahead: 'He's better at the point of contact on any problem more than anyone I've ever seen.' Zoom out for a longer term view, and this person echoed a common sentiment, that Wang is just getting started. 'He may start another company, or maybe a bunch of companies,' the person said. 'Over time, he has a chance of being a main character in Silicon Valley at the highest levels for the next 30 years.' This story was originally featured on
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