Canada’s first tech metals mine goes live

Australia’s Vital Metals Limited (ASX: VML) has started rare earth elements production at its Nechalacho project in Canada’s Northwest Territories. In doing so, the company helped solidify Canada’s role globally as the West works feverishly to establish a new technology metals supply chain independent of China’s dominance.

The critical production milestone makes Vital the first rare earth producer in Canada and the second in North America, besides California’s Mountain Pass mine.

“Mining activities are over 30% complete with waste material removed from the pit to enable the first blast of ore on 28 June, and we are now stockpiling ore for the crusher,” Vital Metals’ managing director Geoff Atkins said in a July 5 news release.

“We will continue to ramp up crushing and ore sorting with full production rates expected to be achieved in July. Beneficiated material will be stockpiled for transport to our extraction plant in Saskatoon,” Atkins said.

On June 28, First Nations mining contractor Nahanni Construction Ltd. dug the first ore from the North T open pit at Vital’s Nechalacho project, which marked the momentous milestone.

According to the company, Nechalacho, located 100 km southeast of Yellowknife, hosts a world-class resource of 94.7 million tonnes grading 1.46% rare earth oxides (REO) across the measured, indicated and inferred. Nechalacho’s North T Zone hosts a high-grade resource of 101,000 tonnes at 9.01% REO, including 2.2% neodymium and praseodymium.

Vital Metals’ Nechalacho rare earth project. Credit: Vital Metals.

Tests of the x-ray transmission ore sorting technology upgrade Nechalacho material from 10.5% REO to a rough concentrate averaging 36% REO while retaining about 70% of the available rare earths.

In June, Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency (CanNor) announced that it had extended a 0%, $1.26 million loan to Cheetah to help fund the establishment of ore-sorting technology at Nechalacho.

REEtec, a Norway-based company that has developed an efficient and environmentally sound REE separation technology, has entered into a contract to produce 1,000 metric tons of separated rare earth oxides annually, not counting the cerium, over the first five years.

The plan is to ship the upgraded material to Vital’s rare earth carbonate production plant next to Saskatchewan Research Council’s REE processing facility in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

A June report of the Standing Committee on Natural Resources presented before the House of Commons recently rang the alarm bell on how important it is for Canada to secure a supply of critical minerals, particularly in the face of China’s dominance.

Currently, China owns about 80% of the global processing capacity for rare earths, as it has been investing for decades in acquiring strategic mineral assets across the world. According to data gathered by the committee, China is likely to hold about 67% of the global capacity to build lithium-ion batteries by 2030.