The Ark Mines (ASX: AHK) Sandy Mitchell rare earths project is located about 230km north-west of Cairns and 105km north-west of Chillagoe in Far North Queensland. 

The project contains a significant resource of rare earth elements (REEs) hosted in mineral sands, including high-demand magnet metals such as neodymium, praseodymium, terbium, and dysprosium.

The measured mineral resource estimate stands at 71.8 Mt at 1732.7ppm monazite equivalent (MzEq).

The Queensland Investment Corporation in 2025 announced an investment of $4.5 million to back drilling efforts and help Ark Mines progress Sandy Mitchell through to a final investment decision.

With first production scheduled for late 2027, the development is expected to create at least 80 jobs.