LSR completes acquisition of US heavy rare earths project

Our US rare earths Investment Lodestar Minerals (ASX: LSR) just closed out the acquisition of its heavy rare earths project in Arizona, USA.

LSR now owns 100% of the project outright and unencumbered and we should start seeing the first batch of sampling from the project over the coming weeks.

LSR actually completed a site visit in late November 2025 which was to do some mapping and rock chip sampling.

(Source)

We covered that here: LSR starts exploration on US heavy rare earths project

Assays from that program are expected later this month.

Previous channel sampling on the project returned grades between 0.53% and 1.26% total rare earth oxides (TREO) - made up ~57% of heavy rare earths. (source)

We are hoping to see LSR prove that the broader project area also has similar results.

The aim of this is to gather samples and results to progress high priority targets for further exploration activity, so we expect activity to pick up once results are received and collated.

These works also included verifying historical data in terms of old shaft and sample locations, so that these can be verified and integrated into modern models.

We are Invested in LSR primarily for this asset to hopefully see the company make a rare earth discovery with high heavy rare earth concentrations, which are more rare and valuable..

Access to and control over HEAVY rare earths helps determine which nations can build, sustain, and upgrade next-generation:

• Artificial Intelligence (AI)
• AI-driven defence
• Autonomous war robots and drones
• Quantum computing, and
• Advanced energy technologies.

See our full Investment Thesis on LSR from our initiation note here: Our New Investment: Lodestar Minerals ASX: LSR

In that note you will also find:

1. How the USA got itself into a position of needing domestic rare earths supply.
2. Why LSR is in the right macro theme and could attract capital.
3. Why we like US critical minerals as a macro thematic.
4. The 8 reasons why we Invested in LSR and our full LSR Investment Memo.

The 8 Reasons We Invested in Lodestar Minerals

1. LSR has a US critical minerals project prospective for heavy rare earths
2. Heavy rare earths are more scarce and critical for “global dominance”
3. We think the US will need domestic heavy rare earths supply in 2-3 years
4. Capital is flowing into US critical metals macro thematic
5. IF LSR attracts capital and re-rates to a valuation high enough it could acquire more advanced assets
6. We are Investing alongside Tribeca Investment Partners
7. We think it's the right time in the bull market cycle to get some exposure to exploration stocks
8. Free kick on a WA gold and Chilean gold-copper project

What’s next for LSR?

🔄 Target Generation on US rare earths project

We want to see LSR sample, map and run geophysics on its US asset to identify priority drill targets.

We also want to see LSR run metallurgical testwork on the geology to start thinking about how to separate the heavy rare earths.

First though, LSR will need to complete the acquisition of its project in Arizona.

Here are the milestones we are tracking:

✅ Acquisition completed (today)

🔄 Mapping and sampling (soil and rock chips) - expected late January (source)

🔲 Geophysics

🔲 Metalurgical testwork

🔲 Drill targets confirmed