COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2023
COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES
COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES	7. COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES Our commitments and contingencies include the following items: Potential environmental contingency The Company’s exploration and development activities are subject to various federal and state laws and regulations governing the protection of the environment. These laws and regulations are regularly changing and generally have become more restrictive. The Company conducts its operations to protect public health and the environment and believes that its operations are materially in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. The Company has made, and expects to make in the future, expenditures to comply with such laws and regulations. The ultimate amount of reclamation and other future site-restoration costs to be incurred for existing mining interests is uncertain. Contract commitment – related party Pursuant to the Cost Share Agreement between the Company and General Atomics and as discussed more fully in Note 4, the Company has agreed to assume and pay for approximately one-half of the costs incurred by General Atomics and the other consortium members for the design, construction, and operation of the Demonstration Plant. Asset purchase agreement On October 25, 2021, the Company and Whitelaw Creek LLC, a Wyoming limited liability company (“Whitelaw Creek”), entered into an amendment (the “Amendment”) to the previously announced asset purchase agreement dated October 20, 2016 between the Company and Whitelaw Creek (the “APA”). The Amendment modified certain provisions of the APA related to the terms and conditions of the Company’s option to repurchase (the “Repurchase Option”) approximately 640 acres of non-core real property located in Crook County, Wyoming, that is under consideration for a stockpile facility for the Bear Lodge REE Project. Pursuant to and subject to the terms of the Amendment, among other things the term of the Repurchase Option (which was to expire on October 26, 2021) was extended for up to three additional years, subject to annual option extension payments from the Company to Whitelaw Creek of $25 in cash per year (each, a “Repurchase Option Extension Payment”); and the exercise price of the Repurchase Option was increased from $1,000 to a price to be determined by a mutually agreed upon real estate appraiser (the “Repurchase Price”), provided that (i) the Repurchase Price must not be less than $1,200 or greater than $1,850 and (ii) any Repurchase Option Extension Payments paid by the Company to Whitelaw Creek must be credited toward the Company’s payment of the Repurchase Price if the Repurchase Option is later exercised. In October 2022, the Company made the $25 Repurchase Option Extension Payment to Whitelaw Creek to extend the term of the Repurchase Option through October 26, 2023.

COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2023

7. COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

Our commitments and contingencies include the following items:

Potential environmental contingency

The Company’s exploration and development activities are subject to various federal and state laws and regulations governing the protection of the environment. These laws and regulations are regularly changing and generally have become more restrictive. The Company conducts its operations to protect public health and the environment and believes that its operations are materially in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. The Company has made, and expects to make in the future, expenditures to comply with such laws and regulations. The ultimate amount of reclamation and other future site-restoration costs to be incurred for existing mining interests is uncertain.

Contract commitment – related party

Pursuant to the Cost Share Agreement between the Company and General Atomics and as discussed more fully in Note 4, the Company has agreed to assume and pay for approximately one-half of the costs incurred by General Atomics and the other consortium members for the design, construction, and operation of the Demonstration Plant.

Asset purchase agreement

On October 25, 2021, the Company and Whitelaw Creek LLC, a Wyoming limited liability company (“Whitelaw Creek”), entered into an amendment (the “Amendment”) to the previously announced asset purchase agreement dated October 20, 2016 between the Company and Whitelaw Creek (the “APA”). The Amendment modified certain provisions of the APA related to the terms and conditions of the Company’s option to repurchase (the “Repurchase Option”) approximately 640 acres of non-core real property located in Crook County, Wyoming, that is under consideration for a stockpile facility for the Bear Lodge REE Project. Pursuant to and subject to the terms of the Amendment, among other things the term of the Repurchase Option (which was to expire on October 26, 2021) was extended for up to three additional years, subject to annual option extension payments from the Company to Whitelaw Creek of $25 in cash per year (each, a “Repurchase Option Extension Payment”); and the exercise price of the Repurchase Option was increased from $1,000 to a price to be determined by a mutually agreed upon real estate appraiser (the “Repurchase Price”), provided that (i) the Repurchase Price must not be less than $1,200 or greater than $1,850 and (ii) any Repurchase Option Extension Payments paid by the Company to Whitelaw Creek must be credited toward the Company’s payment of the Repurchase Price if the Repurchase Option is later exercised. In October 2022, the Company made the $25 Repurchase Option Extension Payment to Whitelaw Creek to extend the term of the Repurchase Option through October 26, 2023.