Saskatchewan plant first to produce rare earth metals in North America 

The Saskatchewan Research Council’s (SRC) rare earth processing facility in Saskatoon produced rare earth metals at a commercial scale this summer  – ahead of schedule – making the Canadian province the first and only jurisdiction to do so in North America, the SRC said Wednesday.

In July, SRC finalized tolling agreements with several international clients to convert individual rare earth oxides into metals using smelting at the facility. 

“Saskatchewan [is] the first and only jurisdiction in North America to produce these rare earth metals, further establishing a rare earth technological hub here in the province,” Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said in a release.  

“This represents a significant opportunity for Saskatchewan to be a world leader in the area of critical mineral development by establishing a secure and sustainable rare earth supply chain,” Moe said.  

The production achievement comes just three months after the federal government diverted a sale of rare earths from Shenghe Resources to the SRC. Shenghe had planned to buy about A$2.6 million ($2.3 million) worth of stockpiled rare earths mined by Vital Metals (ASX: VML) at its Nechalacho demonstration project in the Northwest Territories. Across the Americas there are only two producing rare earths mines: Serra Verde’s Pela Ema project in Brazil and MP Materials’ (NYSE: MP) Mountain Pass mine in California. Rare earths are crucial in the production of cellular phones, computers and magnets used in green energy technologies and electric vehicles.  

Since 2020, the SRC’s Rare Earth Processing Facility has received $71 million in funding from the government of Saskatchewan, as well as $30 million in combined funding from the Canadian government.  The funding helped built a vertically and laterally integrated “minerals to metals” facility equipped with state-of-the-art, proprietary technology, SRC said. 

Using in-house developed technology in metal smelting, the council’s facility is ready to produce 10 tonnes of neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr) metals per month, with purities greater than 99.5% and conversions greater than 98%, the Council said. 

Once fully operational in early 2025, SRC’s Rare Earth Processing Facility will produce approximately 400 tonnes of NdPr metals per year, enough to power 500,000 electric vehicles.