In a step towards creating North America’s first fully integrated, commercial demonstration Rare Earth Processing Facility, the Saskatchewan Research Council has developed groundbreaking technology in the realm of element separation.
SRC President and CEO Mike Crabtree says SRC has manufactured solvent extraction cells at their new fabrication facility in Saskatoon. The cells take mixed liquid solutions of various rare earth elements and separates them to become solid rare earth oxides that can be sold to make cell phones, electric vehicles, or wind turbines. Crabtree says this development will be a huge bolster to Saskatchewan’s economy in the coming years, as rare earth elements range from $1500 to $4 million a ton. Crabtree adds that in time, the cells will be the main component in the separation unit of the rare earth processing facility that SRC plans to construct by the end of November 2024. The facility will house and operate 140 of the cells which will be connected to each other and controlled by an SRC designed artificial intelligence system. He adds that the system they’ve created among only a few other worldwide, however they are the most technically advanced on the planet.