VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, Oct. 13, 2009 (Marketwire) -- Rare Element Resources Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:RES) (the "Company") is pleased to announce the identification of an additional rare-earth-element (REE) target area approximately 1500 feet northwest of the Bull Hill Southwest deposit at the Bear Lodge project, Wyoming. The Company designates this area as the Whitetail Ridge rare-earths exploration target, and it is being prepared for possible drilling later this fall, weather permitting. The new target is located adjacent to and west of the Bull Hill Northwest target. It was recognized from a combination of: 1) detailed geological mapping of FMR (FeOx-MnOx-REE) vein material by our gold exploration partner, Newmont North American Exploration Ltd.; 2) a positive ground geophysical anomaly of a type coincident with significant REE mineralization in other parts of the project area; and 3) a review of nearby historic drill holes that intersected strong REE mineralization in FMR dikes and veins. The size of the geophysical anomaly (approximately 1400 by 2000 feet elongate northeasterly) provides an indication that this REE target may be larger than others in the district. Historic drill hole WP-1, drilled by Hecla Mining Company in 1987, intersected 430 feet of strong REE mineralization in a near-surface intercept from 0 to 430 feet that averages 2.44% REO. Within the larger intercept were several 10-foot intercepts with grades ranging from 5.5 to 13.7% REO.
The Whitetail Ridge FMR mineralized zone may be the continuation of the Bull Hill Southwest deposit dike system, which trends northwesterly and is truncated, and possibly offset, by the West Bull Hill fault. Alternatively, it may be a separate rare-earth system with emplacement controlled by an east-northeast structural trend that is similar to one dominant in nearby Carbon Hill and along a graben-bounding fault that corresponds to the Whitelaw Creek drainage. This ENE structural trend may have had an influence on the emplacement of high-grade REE mineralization in FMR and carbonatite dikes and veins in Hecla drill-hole WP-2 in the Bull Hill Northwest target. More detailed field examination of the area is warranted, with the objective of determining significant structural trends that may guide drilling in the 2009 and 2010 drilling programs. Using an Exploranium spectrometer, ground geophysical surveys were undertaken over the Bull Hill Southwest FMR/carbonatite dike swarm for comparison with the Whitetail Ridge area. Both areas produced pronounced positive anomalies. The results of the Whitetail Ridge survey show an anomaly that trends about N40E, as well as two, more diffuse northwesterly trending positive anomalies.
