Vital Metals’ Rare Earth Extraction Plant Starts Commissioning

According to an update from Bill Braden, media relations manager at Cheetah Resources, early commissioning of Vital Metals' Saskatoon rare earth extraction plant has officially begun. Rare earth ore mined at Vital's Nechalacho project in mid-2021 will now enter processing and the supply chain in line with the next step in the company's ongoing work.

Commissioning and ramp-up of the Saskatoon plant will occur in two phases: a product qualification phase prior to the start of the production ramp-up phase, Saskatoon plant is located near the rare earth processing plant being built by the Saskatchewan Research Council as part of the province's Rare Earth Centre. The initial focus will be to produce 2.5 tonnes of specification-compliant carbonate rare earths for delivery to offtake partner REEtec (a Norwegian customer) under an agreed qualification agreement, with product delivery to the customer currently targeted for October 2022.

On top of this, the company will also announce that it has begun feeding ore to its Dense Media Separation (DMS) plant, a technology that separates particles based on specific gravity, as part of the commissioning of its rare earth extraction facility in Saskatoon, Sask. Vital Metals will be progressively commissioning the facility in the province over the next few months.

Geoff Atkins, Managing Director of the company, said, "The commission of the rare earth extraction plant is a big leap for the company to continue our transition from rare earth developer to operator. Our goal is to produce 2.5 (tons) of carbonate for REEtec, which is forecast to be completed in October 2022."

Under the company's amended offtake agreement with REEtec, the miner will deliver 187.5 tons of NdPr (neodymium and praseodymium, which power the strongest types of rare earth magnets) to REEtec over time and at least 750 tons of NdPr per year for five years (for a total of 3,750 tons of NdPr), which is contained in approximately 2,000 tons per year of ore.

Vital Metals is Canada’s first rare earths producer, with production underway at Nechalacho in June 2021. The company aims to produce a minimum 5,000 tonnes of contained REO at Nechalacho by 2025.

Earlier in 2022, the miner was advised that it would receive $5 million in funding from PrairiesCan under the Canada Jobs and Growth Fund to help increase its working capital during operations, including the establishment of a Saskatoon facility. The notice clarified that Vital would repay (the loan) in monthly installments over a five-year period beginning in April 2024.

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