Power Minerals Ltd (ASX:PNN) Acquires Rare Earths Project in California
8 October 2025
Price Sensitive Announcement $
Highlights:
Power Minerals Limited has executed an option agreement to acquire the Gamma Heavy Rare Earths (HREE) Project (“Gamma Project”) in the mining-supportive San Bernardino district in California, U.S.A, south-west of Mountain Pass Mine (MP Materials Inc; MP:NYSE; A$20 bn market cap)
The Gamma Project was initially explored for gold, followed by uranium, with rare earth elements (REE) identified on the property only recently. This progression mirrors the exploration history of the Mountain Pass deposit, which was also first investigated for gold and uranium before the discovery of its world-class rare earth mineralisation.
Historical non-JORC shallow drilling carried out on the Gamma Project has intersected high-grade uranium such as 30.33m at 0.37% U3O8 including 6.25m at 1.3% U3O8.
The property features a distinct uranium zone separate to the rare earth zones, which is also a characteristic of the Mountain Pass REE Mine.
Historical drill cores were never assayed for rare earth elements. This will form part of the upcoming exploration activities by PNN.
Gamma is a very high-grade rare earth exploration asset with grades up to 20,257ppm TREO (nonJORC 2012).
Highlight REE results (non-JORC) from historic rock chip sampling include:
▪ 20,257ppm (or 2.03%) TREO, including 10,732ppm (or 1.07%) HREO in sample 107709
▪ 16,978ppm (or 1.70%) TREO, including 8,830ppm (or 0.88%) HREO in sample REE-1
▪ 12,384ppm (or 1.24%) TREO, including 5,897ppm (or 0.59%) HREO in sample 107710
Highlight uranium results (non-JORC) from historic rock chip sampling include:
▪ 15,150ppm U (or 1.786% U3O8) in sample JM-03
▪ 10,300ppm U (or 1.214% U3O8) in sample JM-04
Historic drilling with 6.25m at 1.30% U3O8e from 24.08m depth.
The Project is located in the same highly prospective REE precinct as the only REE producing in the U.S., MP Materials Corp’s (MP:NYSE) Mountain Pass Mine.
The Gamma Project adds to Power’s strategic critical mineral portfolio, with this potential mineralised carbonatite synergising with Power’s Santa Anna carbonatite project in Brazil.
Power has also received firm commitments for a Placement to raise $4.1m from sophisticated and professional investors, including Tribeca Investment Partners and S3 Consortium (Next Investors).
Details on the Gamma Project, the Transaction and Placement
Power Minerals Limited (ASX: PNN, Power or the Company) is pleased to announce it has ntered into abinding agreement with the shareholder Californian Heavy Rare Earths Corporation Pty Ltd (Californian HRE) to acquire the high-grade Gamma HRE Project in California, U.S.A.
Under the agreement, the Company will acquire 100% of the shares in Californian HRE. Californian HRE is a party to an option agreement (Option Agreement), whereby 1081646 BC Ltd (BC Ltd), has granted it an exclusive and binding option to acquire 100% of the fully paid ordinary shares in the capital of Paradigm Critical Minerals Ltd (a company incorporated in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Paradigm Critical Minerals holds 100% of the shares on issue in Paradigm Exploration Ltd. (a company incorporated in California, United States of America.
Paradigm Exploration has the right to purchase 100% of the 36 tenements (Tenements) which comprise the Gamma HREE Project, pursuant to an Option Agreement between Paradigm Critical Minerals and Sundown Resources LLC (a company incorporated in California, United States of America (Corporation Entity Number 92555-6543) (Sundown).
On 4 October 2025, the Option under the Option Agreement was exercised by Californian HRE for the acquisiton of all the issued shares in Paradigm Critical Minerals.
The Gamma Project is located in the mining-supportive region of San Bernardino County in the eastern region of California, in the same REE precinct as MP Materials Corp (MP: NYSE) Mountain Pass REE Project, the only REE producing operation in the United States
The acquisition, if completed, will represent a strategic addition to Power’s portfolio of high quality critical minerals assets and reaffirm its position as an emerging critical minerals exploration and development company. It also presents an opportunity to leverage the US Government’s commitment to establish a robust domestic supply chain for essential critical minerals.
Previous exploration at the Gamma Project, in the form of rock chip sampling programs (non-JORC), has returned very high-grade results, including (see Table 1):
20,257ppm (or 2.03%) TREO, including 10,732ppm (or 1.07%) HREO in sample 107709
16,978ppm (or 1.70%) TREO, including 8,830ppm (or 0.88%) HREO in sample REE-1
12,384ppm (or 1.24%) TREO, including 5,897ppm (or 0.59%) HREO in sample 107710.
HREO is defined as [Gd2O3]+[Tb4O7]+[Dy2O3]+[Ho2O3]+[Er2O3]+[Tm2O3]+[Yb2O3]+[Lu2O3]+[Y2O3].
The Project also has uranium potential, with historic surface rock grab samples (in 1968) returning exceptional uranium grades (non-JORC):
- 15,150ppm U (or 1.786% U3O8) in sample JM-03
- 10,300ppm U (or 1.214% U3O8) in sample JM-04
Gamma Project
The Gamma Project is strategically located in mining-friendly San Bernardino County, within the State of California.
The Gamma Project is 195km by highway roads from the Mountain Pass Rare Earth Mine along the sealed State Highway 247, then dual Interstate Highway 15. The Mountain Pass Rare Earth Mine is the only operating Rare Earth Element mine in North America, and mainly produces Ce, La, Nd, and Eu (light REE).
The company’s market capitalisation is A$20 billion (MP:NYSE).
The Gamma Project area has been subject to historical exploration for uranium and gold. The claim areas are within Bureau of Land Management (BLM) government land, making tenement access potentially quicker and simpler. The San Bernardino County is considered one of the more mining-friendly counties in the state, as it directly manages the permitting process for the County’s mineral projects.
Heavy Rare Earth Potential
A limited amount of sampling (non-JORC 2012) has previously been completed for REE, with data recorded for six rock samples in 2011, by the discovery prospector, and three rock samples by Sundown Resources in 2021.
Ten out of twelve of the initial grab rock samples analysed for REE contain more than 50% of the total rare earth oxide (TREO) content comprised of heavy rare earth oxides (REOs). This very high proportion of HREO includes the samples with the highest TREO concentrations. This is in strong contrast to the Mountain Pass Rare Earth Mine, that has predominantly light REE.
The high REE concentrations and HREO proportions were repeated by two separate sampling programs (and two separate commercial laboratories), providing strong confidence in the reported results. Reconnaissance Portable X-ray Fluorescence (pXRF) analyses (non-JORC) have been completed by Sundown Resources with 13 measurements containing over 1% PREE (Partial REE; Y, La, Ce, Pr, and Nd) and four measurements from two separate locations with over 5% PREE.
The highest PREE measurement (7.2% PREE) was recorded 75 metres west from the highest TREO rock sample (107709). It is important to note that the absolute pXRF values can be unreliable due to mineral grain size effects and the lack of homogeneous sample preparation. At this stage, the type of material measured (soil, rock, lithology, etc) has not been established. Further work, including confirmatory modern sampling is required to verify the reliability and relevance of the pXRF historical data.
The rare-earth-bearing pegmatites and porphyritic dykes were discovered by a prospector exploring for uranium. There are numerous dykes of extensive strike length that remain unexplored. The rare-earthbearing pegmatites and porphyritic dykes are easily identifiable against the surrounding gneiss and gabbro rocks.
Uranium Potential
Two historic surface rock grab samples measured exceptional uranium in January 1968. These two samples were part of 40 rock chip samples collected over Uranium Hill for Crismar Mining Company and are below a 15 metre adit completed in the late 1950s for uranium.
The average of all 40 samples was 0.4% U3O8. In addition, another 20 more systematically selected channel and rock chip samples were collected by Big Horn Mining Company over the same sites as Crismar, as well as other parts of the target area. One channel sample (E-02) over 15.2m length between samples JM-03 and KM-04 returned 0.36% U2O8. The remaining sampling shows considerable uranium over a large area.
Previous drilling for uranium in the claim area following the surface sampling. No geochemical sample results are available for the first shallow RAB drilling program completed in 1968 for Big Horn Mining Company. There is downhole radiometric data from the single diamond cored drillhole by Big Horn Mining. The results for this survey are:
30.33m at 0.37% U3O8e from 1.83m depth,
including 6.25m at 1.30% U3O8e from 24.08m depth
Including 0.61m at 8.51% U3O8e from 24.84m in drillhole Big Horn DH.
While the Company considers the historical uranium data to be of sufficient geological quality to support an exploration targeting program, it does not satisfy the requirements of the JORC Code (2012) due to the absence of verifiable sampling procedures, georeferenced sample locations, appropriate QAQC protocols, including a lack of information on sample duplicates, blanks, standards, and assay laboratory procedures to be material in further assessment.
Gamma Project Summary
The Gamma Project is considered to have significant potential for highly desirable heavy rare earth (REE) and uranium, making it a highly prospective area for mining. There has been no drilling in this area for almost 50 years, and it has only recently been sampled for rare earth elements (REE). The direct highway connection to the Mountain Pass rare earth element (REE) mine, which focuses on light rare earth elements (LREE), increases the importance of the recently discovered high concentrations of heavy rare earth elements (HREE) at Gamma. Previous exploration in the area did not target carbonatite and related rocks, indicating excellent potential for further discovery in this area. Although historical uranium exploration was limited to radiometric analysis, it has shown excellent potential for the presence of uranium in the area.
Company Notes:
“We are very excited about the potential of the Gamma Project to add to and complement, our suite of critical minerals projects. Gamma represents a high-grade, early-stage exploration asset, which we see has the potential to be rapidly advanced with the application of targeted, modern exploration activities.
The Gamma Project is located in a mining friendly region in California, which hosts several highprofile REE projects. Of particular note is the $20 billion Mountain Pass REE mine owned by NYSE-listed MP Materials Inc, which is the United States’ only REE producing mine. The Mountain Pass operation produces Light REE only (and lacks Heavy REE); Power sees a future potential opportunity to provide HREE feedstock from the Gamma Project to the Mountain Pass mine, subject to the successful exploration and development of Gamma.
Upon completion of the due diligence process, we intend to move forward with completing the acquisition and quickly progressing exploration activities. We are excited to share that our Exploration team is currently present on site, engaging in mapping and early-stage sampling.
Our future exploration plans involve carrying out systematic sampling and conducting geophysical surveys, with a focus on expediting progress towards drilling on the results obtained.”
Managing Director, Mena Habib
Full ASX Announcement: https://hotcopper.com.au/threads/ann-pnn-to-acquire-high-grade-rare-earth-uranium-project.8814067/