Mineral processing at the Saskatchewan Research Council’s Rare Earth Processing Facility will soon be safer, faster, and easier thanks to a $6 million investment from the federal government.

The funding will be put towards two initiatives; the implementation of a process to separate rare earth oxides from monazite scraps that would have otherwise been thrown away, and
the automation of the metal smelting process, as currently, the vats of steaming metal must be stirred manually 24 hours a day.

Mike Crabtree, Presidents and CEO of the SRC, says these initiatives, once in operation, will make their facility more competitive in the battle to win national partners.

“That is our mantra, is that we use technology to be able to reduce the costs so that we can be competitive. The other mantra is this will be the most environmentally sustainable plant in the world. These types of plants utilize vast quantities of water and chemicals. This will not emit one single drop,” he states.

Minister Responsible for SRC Jeremy Harrison agrees that, in order to attract national partners, incentives must be created through preparedness and competence.

“Ultimately, where we want to see critical minerals sourced is going to be here in Saskatchewan. How we get there is this facility being operational, where there is a midstream processing capacity which will create the incentives for the actual mining and early-stage work.”

Harrison cites national partners as the source for the monazite that will be separated and processed at the facility, adding that SRC’s commercial arrangements are things that he can’t share much detail on.

The equipment needed for both initiatives will not only be housed at the SRC site, but also designed and built in Saskatchewan. The facility is expected to be operational by the end of 2024.

Minister Responsible for PrairiesCan, Dan Vandal, says the process of recouping the $5 million investment made in Vital Metals is underway, and an update will be provided to the public once progress is made.

Vital Metals went bankrupt in 2023, just two years after it began constructing its rare processing facility in Saskatoon. This occurred after the cost of the plant ballooned to nearly $60 million, after it was originally estimated to cost a third of that amount.

When asked why he has confidence in the SRC project after seeing what happened to Vital Metals, Vandal stated that “this project has been around a few years. This organization has been around a few years. We’ve done our due diligence. We’ve worked with the province of Saskatchewan. We know there’s tremendous potential and we have confidence in our partnership.”