Rio Tinto and USGS team up for Montana critical mineral hunt

Australian diversified major Rio Tinto (NYSE: RIO; LSE: RIO; ASX: RIO) has teamed up with the United States Geological Survey (USGS) to hunt for critical minerals beneath the Continental Divide near Montana's Boulder Batholith.

For the first time, the USGS has partnered with a resource company to fly airborne geophysical surveys in areas of interest in 2022 as part of its Earth Mapping Resources Initiative (Earth MRI) initiative, allowing it to double the area under survey.

Recent studies by the USGS Earth MRI have identified the Boulder Batholith region as having conditions that look favourable for hosting several critical mineral resources, such as rare earth elements, tellurium, tin, tungsten, and copper, molybdenum and gold. The region is well-known for its mineral potential.

Previous mining efforts have yielded significant quantities of copper, gold, lead, silver and zinc, as well as other metals.