Harena eyes California rare earth, uranium assets: geology and drilling lens for mine planners
Reviewed by Tom Sullivan
First reported on MINING.com
30 Second Briefing
Harena Rare Earths has entered an exclusivity agreement to acquire Paradigm Critical Minerals’ heavy rare earth and uranium exploration portfolio in San Bernardino County, California, near MP Materials’ Mountain Pass mine, the only operating rare earth mine in North America. Historical work on the former gold-silver operation reports rare earth samples up to 2% TREO with elevated heavy rare earths, plus uranium intercepts of 30.3 m at 0.37% U₃O₈e and internal zones up to 10% U₃O₈e. Harena plans modern mapping, trenching, geophysics and drilling following due diligence.
Technical Brief
- Exclusivity agreement grants Harena sole negotiation rights while it completes technical, legal and commercial due diligence.
- Assets sit in San Bernardino County, the California jurisdiction with the highest number of mines and claims.
- Paradigm Critical Minerals is the current owner of the heavy rare earth and uranium permit portfolio.
- Historical work evolved from gold–silver mining to uranium drilling, with rare earths only recently recognised.
- Harena draws geological analogies to Bancroft (Canada), Midnite (US), and Rössing/Husab (Namibia) uranium districts.
- Company intends a modern systematic programme: detailed mapping, channel sampling, trenching, geophysics and follow-up drilling.
- Harena’s existing Ampasindava project in Madagascar hosts 699 Mt at 868 ppm TREO (606,000 t TREO contained).
Our Take
With 699 Mt at 868 ppm TREO at Ampasindava, Harena Rare Earths is moving into the same scale bracket as the larger ionic clay stories in our Mining coverage, which typically aim at long-life, low-strip operations rather than high-grade, small-footprint plays.
Historical uranium intercepts up to 10% U₃O₈e in the portfolio suggest that any California or North American uranium oxide targets could be positioned as higher-grade, drill-defined prospects, which in our database tend to attract more interest from utilities and traders once permitting pathways are clearer in the United States.
The presence of MP Materials’ Mountain Pass mine alongside uranium assets in San Bernardino County places Harena’s M&A focus squarely in one of the few US regions where rare earth and uranium permitting, infrastructure and technical expertise already overlap, which can shorten lead times compared with greenfield critical minerals projects elsewhere in North America.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
Related Articles
Related Industries & Products
Mining
Geotechnical software solutions for mining operations including CMRR analysis, hydrogeological testing, and data management.
Construction
Quality control software for construction companies with material testing, batch tracking, and compliance management.
CMRR-io
Streamline coal mine roof stability assessments with our cloud-based CMRR software featuring automated calculations, multi-scenario analysis, and collaborative workflows.
HYDROGEO-io
Comprehensive hydrogeological testing platform for managing, analysing, and reporting on packer tests, lugeon values, and hydraulic conductivity assessments.
GEODB-io
Centralised geotechnical data management solution for storing, accessing, and analysing all your site investigation and material testing data.