Locksley Resources taps Ivy League smarts to supercharge US rare earths push
- James Pearson
- Nov 17, 2025
- 4 min read
Locksley Resources (ASX: LKY) has inked a landmark partnership with Columbia University in New York in a move that could dramatically accelerate America’s push to rebuild its rare earths and critical minerals processing muscle on home soil.
The timing could not be sharper either, arriving just as the US Government announced it is rolling out a US$355 million (A$500M) funding surge to accelerate new critical-minerals technologies.
The initiative is aimed at reducing America’s dependence on foreign-supplied minerals that underpin defence systems, EV motors and advanced manufacturing. The supply of many critical materials currently remains firmly within China’s grip.
Under the collaboration, Columbia University, which is one of the world’s leading research institutions, will help Locksley develop next-generation processing technologies targeting rare earths sourced from the company’s Mojave project in California.
The research program is being led by Professor Greeshma Gadikota, as director of the university’s Lenfest Centre for sustainable energy. His department has already made breakthroughs in the field of electrochemical recovery and carbon dioxide-assisted mineral processing.
Locksley says Gadikota’s work has already drawn interest from the Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E), where sustainability, energy efficiency and low-impact mining sit at the top of the priority list.
For Locksley, the Columbia tie-up slots perfectly alongside its existing DeepSolv partnership with Rice University in Houston, which is already developing green antimony extraction technologies.
The company’s combined research strategy appears to play directly into the geopolitical winds now blowing and cuts to the core of Washington’s efforts to urgently attempt to regain control of its domestic critical minerals supply chain.
The alignment of this work with current US Government priorities, including the DOE’s recent US$355 million funding initiatives, enhances our ability to engage with suitable programs as we progress towards pilot-scale development.
Locksley Resources CEO Kerrie Matthews
The source of Locksley’s upcoming research collaboration with Columbia is its El Campo rare earths prospect - a standout target tucked deep within California’s Mojave Desert, forming a key pillar of the company’s broader Mojave project.
Positioned just five kilometres from MP Materials’ legendary Mountain Pass rare earths mine and completely surrounded by its leases, El Campo shares the same geological corridor known to host some of the richest rare earths and antimony mineralisation in the United States.
Now, for the first time, the prospect is about to feel the bite of the drill bit. Locksley says the drilling campaign will follow up on some eye-catching surface results, including earlier rock chips that graded up to 12.1 per cent total rare earth oxides.
Those samples also carried an impressive 3.19 per cent neodymium-praseodymium rare earths - the prized magnet metals used in EVs, wind turbines and defence systems.
Mountain Pass is the only rare earths operation running on US soil and is the undisputed crown jewel in MP Materials’ portfolio. Far from an ordinary deposit, the mine hit the world stage in 1952 when rare earths grades of seven per cent stunned the industry and set a global benchmark that held for decades.
Through the ’60s, ’70s and ′80s, Mountain Pass ruled the market before China ultimately took the reins.
Geologically, it remains a standout rare earths–rich carbonatite system cut by fenite and trachyte dykes, forming a deposit that is still considered one of the world’s finest.
The mine’s strategic value has soared in recent years, drawing a US$400 million capital injection from the Pentagon and another US$500 million from tech giant Apple. Together, those investments underline just how vital Mountain Pass has become to America’s national security and advanced manufacturing ambitions.
Notably, it is also the only place in America where rare earths are both mined and processed - a fact not lost on Locksley, its neighbour.
To kick off the work with Colombia university, scientists will take a close look at the Mojave rocks to figure out exactly what minerals are in them and how they’re arranged. The goal is to map the complex carbonatite, monazite and silicate ore systems that typify the Mountain Pass district.
The real alchemy though, comes from applying Colombia’s advanced electrochemical and carbon dioxide-based techniques used to dissolve more than 80 per cent of the ore before separating out the rare earths with highly selective recovery systems.
If the tests work, Locksley says it could offer a brand new homegrown, low-energy pathway to rare earths that sidesteps the environmental baggage of traditional Chinese processing methods.
Notably, the program also brings in AI-powered ore mapping, autonomous cutters and selective mining systems - technology lifted straight from the US Government’s “Mine of the Future” playbook.
With the US pouring millions into the space, Locksley and Columbia will no doubt be using this work to tease out Department of Energy and Department of War funding for the construction of a pilot scale plant.
The first shipment of Mojave ore is already being prepared for Columbia’s labs, with governance meetings and grant applications locked in for the coming weeks.
While the ink is barely dry on the Columbia agreement, the momentum behind Locksley’s US strategy already appears to be building fast.
If the company’s latest research program takes shape as planned, Locksley could find itself stepping into a rare, sweet spot - where timing, technology and geopolitics align to put it at the forefront of America’s next chapter in rare earth processing.
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