The province in Western Canada is known for its mining industry and mineral deposits.
The Canadian Government announced Wednesday that it will allocate $11.7 million to the Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC) to establish and advance rare earth processing technologies. The SRC will use the majority of the capital to acquire bastnaesite from Vital Metals’ Nechalacho mine. Bastnaesite is a rare earth element-containing ore. Another major mine that extracts rare earths from this type of ore is the Mountain Pass mine in the U.S., operated by MP Materials. Vital Metals made headlines in the last months when it first shelved the construction of a rare earth processing facility and then announced it would sell its entire mined raw material to a Chinese company. However, the Canadian Government allegedly intervened to keep the material within its borders (we reported). The $2 million-worth raw material was instead also sold to the SRC. The organization is currently building a rare earth processing facility in Saskatoon, the largest city in Saskatchewan. The SRC will extract mixed rare earth oxides from the acquired bastnaesite and refine them into individual rare earth oxides and, finally, metals. In addition to rare earths, the government funding also includes capital for the SRC to create a publicly accessible database of mineral characteristics and training programs for Indigenous students.
Photo: iStock/Captured by Keeleigh
