Canada to establish first rare earth processing facility in North America

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan has been selected as the site of the first rare earth minerals processing facility in North America. Establishing the facility in Saskatoon is an important part of Canada’s energy transition.

Saskatchewan rare earth processing facility. Photo: FT

The critical minerals plant is under construction and is expected to be fully operational next year, according to the Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC). It will be the only facility in North America capable of processing critical minerals into materials that can be used to make a variety of products, including batteries for electric vehicles.

SRC CEO Mike Crabtree said SRC is now up and running, with one unit producing 10 tonnes of neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr) per month and plans to ramp up to 40 tonnes per month by December. When fully operational, the plant will eventually be able to produce around 400 tonnes of NdPr per year.

Mr. Crabtree said it makes sense to locate a critical minerals processing plant in Canada because the country is rich in critical raw minerals. He asserted that a processing facility like SRC could multiply the value of raw materials by 20 to 30 times before they reach the market.

According to the Financial Times, this is part of an effort to counter China's global dominance in the supply of critical minerals needed for green technology, defense and aerospace industries. According to the International Energy Agency, China controls about 60% of the world's rare earth mining and nearly 90% of its processing and refining.

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Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/canada-thanh-lap-co-so-che-bien-dat-hiem-dau-tien-o-bac-my-post760112.html