Critical North American Rare Earths Supply Chain Ⅱ: REE Hub in Saskatchewan

In addition to the NWT mine, the next link in the North American rare earths supply chain established in partnership with Ucore is Vital's carbonate rare earth production plant, currently under construction near the Saskatchewan Research Council's rare earth facility in Saskatoon, Canada.

Our first ore will leave Nechalacho this month and we expect to start feeding the plant by the end of 2021, followed by commissioning," Atkins said in early October.

This plant is under construction and will start up with a capacity of 1,000 metric tons per year, 50% higher than originally planned, and will be expanded to 2,000 metric tons per year in a second phase.

Atkins said, "Vital has procured all of the critical equipment required to process the REE ore from our Nechalacho operations in the Northwest Territories into rare earth carbonates at the Saskatoon plant, including oversizing some projects, allowing us to increase production in the second phase of our operations."

The only initial equipment not sized for the second phase of expansion is the leaching tank, which can easily be added when needed. "This selectivity in equipment sizing is based on the previous experience of its management team commissioning similar plants and will help ensure the smoothest possible ramp-up in production," says Vital.

By mid-October, the processing facility in Saskatoon was taking shape, with foundation work completed, electrical service installed and construction of the building scheduled to begin by the end of the month.

The Saskatchewan Research Council, which provides a wide range of technical services to Canadian and global mining companies, has been contracted to support the construction and operation of the Vital plant. the collaboration between SRC and Vital is expected to maximize synergies as they build rare earth processing facilities side-by-side.

Atkins said, "Our custom-built facility is being built in conjunction with the SRC rare earth processing facility being built by the Saskatchewan Research Council, and the results are exciting to see this rare earth center begin to take shape in Saskatchewan."

Most of the initial rare earth carbonates produced at Vital's custom-built facility in Saskatoon will be shipped to REEtec, which has developed an efficient and environmentally friendly technology to separate the well-known interlocking rare earths into the individual elements needed for high-tech and industrial applications.

Under an amended agreement signed earlier this month, Vital will sell REEtech rare earth carbonate products containing at least 750 metric tons of magnetized rare earth praseodymium and neodymium in quantities up to 2,000 metric tons per year. This represents a 50 percent increase over the 470 metric tons of midstream rare earth products containing praseodymium and neodymium previously agreed upon by the two companies in North American.

Atkins said, "The 50% increase in sales to REEtec represents a vote of confidence in Vital Metals' ability to secure raw materials for the European rare earths supply chain. This increase will allow us to double the capacity of our Saskatoon facility by the end of 2023, at which point REEtec will have access to 75% of the plant's capacity."

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