Gary Schellenberg

Origen Resources Dominates NE Brazil’s Rare Earth Footprint

• Top takeaway He argues that being the largest rare earth landholder in northeastern Brazil gives Origen a first-mover information advantage and says the company will turn its story into reality.
• He frames Marc Riccio's arrival as a major vote of confidence, citing Riccio's eight-plus years as a Serra Verde director and asset manager before its $2.8 billion buyout by US Rare Earths.
• He says extensive field due diligence at Campo de Cima replicated and even expanded earlier sampling results, which drove the decision to proceed with the acquisition.
• He expects a steady news flow in the weeks after the interview: the Picos airborne survey finishing, a second phase being designed, and Campo de Cima auger drilling starting mid-to-late October 2026.
• He claims rising credibility in Brazil, saying the company draws local press as one of the few explorers reporting success north of the main ionic clay area.

Origen Resources hired former Serra Verde director Marc Riccio, a move CEO Gary Schellenberg calls a major endorsement of its Brazil rare earth plans. The Campo de Cima acquisition followed extensive field due diligence, with resampling replicating and expanding the vendor's original ionic clay results. A planned 168-hole auger campaign (shallow drilling to sample near surface) is expected to define the ionic clay property within months. Fieldwork at the Picos project has finished first-pass sampling, with an airborne radiometric survey nearly complete and target areas expanded. The CEO claims first-mover landholding makes Origen the largest rare earth landholder in northeastern Brazil, giving early access to district data.

U.S. Tariff Exemptions Make Brazil’s Rare Earths a Must-Watch Play: Origen Resources

• Top takeaway Top point: he reads a $20 million IPO by another Brazil rare earth name as evidence of a race to fund the sector, and argues Origen is not far from that same position and should be able to tap the same appetite, especially from US investors.
• He says he has looked at rare earths since around 2008 and that the company deliberately targets ionic clay projects, choosing to enter commodities before they become the flavor of the month - which is what led it to Brazil.
• On the jurisdiction: he argues Brazil holds the world's second-largest rare earth reserves, is relatively underexplored, and that incentives plus local geological and government partners make it favourable for junior explorers.
• He interprets new US tariffs that exempt rare earth metals and compounds, alongside a reported $2 billion US government investment in rare earth projects worldwide, as a signal that Brazil is seen as a likely next rare earth superpower.
• He acknowledges there is a lot to watch out for, but frames the company's early move into Brazil as having caught the opportunity on a rising tide, which he credits partly to luck and partly to 15-plus years of work.

Rare earth appetite in Brazil is heating up: a peer IPO raising $20 million signals a strong funding pool for the sector. Schellenberg says Origen staked more than 68,000 hectares of ionic clay and phosphate-hosted rare earth ground, with airborne geophysics contracted. Ionic clay deposits — the guest’s preferred target — can be developed fast and mined open pit or in situ, without hauling ore. Brazil is believed to hold the world’s second largest rare earth reserves but stays under-explored, with government incentives for newcomers. Schellenberg reads the U.S. tariff exemption for Brazilian rare earths, plus a new $2 billion US investment, as a strategic endorsement.