Idaho Strategic increases Idaho Rare Earth Element Belt holdings

Idaho Strategic Resources announced its increased land holdings, within the Idaho Rare Earth Element-Thorium Belt, to over 11,000 acres, thus solidifying its place as the 2nd largest Rare Earth Element land-holding Company in the U.S. Early-day Cold War prospectors helped define the Idaho REE-Th Belt through participation in a nation-wide energy search for both uranium and thorium which was overseen by the Atomic Energy Commission, Department of Energy, Department of Defense and others. During this time, many of our country’s REE deposits were identified and documented in several USGS and other agency publications. However, while their importance was recognized, REEs would not become a noted ‘critical mineral’ until now, decades later. The early-day geologic work helped delineate many prospects that eventually became listed by the United States Geologic Survey- including Diamond Creek, Lemhi Pass and Roberts, among others. Idaho has two critical minerals belts: the Idaho Cobalt Belt and the Idaho REE-Th Belt. The Idaho REE-Th Belt runs subparallel to and is located 15 miles east of the better-known Idaho Cobalt Belt. The REE-Th deposits occur along a northwest trending zone measuring approximately 70 miles long by 8 miles wide. This belt possesses most of the REE lode occurrences in Idaho and covers portions of the Montana and Idaho border in the Lemhi Pass District in the southeast, up through IDR‘s Diamond Creek Project in its center, and on to the Roberts Project in the Mineral Hill District, before crossing the Idaho-Montana border into the Sheep Creek occurrences in Montana. Along this 70-mile belt, IDR controls the Roberts Property in the northwest, the Diamond Creek Property in the middle; and its greatly expanded Lemhi Pass Property claim block in the southeast. At Lemhi Pass we increased our land position from around 4,400 acres of unpatented claims to approximately 7,600 acres of unpatented claims, plus an additional 600+ acres of state lease. Lemhi Pass is an expansive and highly prospective area covering many of the recognized historical prospects which are comprised of five "large-scale" projects/areas. Further definition of these separate Lemhi Pass project areas will be in future discussions and will be added to our website when applicable. Our new claims are in the southeast end of the REE-Th Belt and are located on the Montana side of the Lemhi Pass District. During this past year, we also increased our holdings at the Roberts Project in the Mineral Hill District, going from 1,050 acres of unpatented claims to approximately 2,800 acres of unpatented claims. Noteworthy of this area is that some of the highest historic REE samples are from this portion of the Idaho REE-Th Belt, including one sample taken by IDR geologists returning grades of 12% total rare earth oxides, and another sample by the Idaho Geological Survey that contained 21.5% TREO. The newly added claims cover REE prospects such as the Lower Lee Buck and Phyllis Gross