Vital Metals opens rare earths processing plant in Saskatoon on EV highway

Australia’s Vital Metals (ASX: VML), the first producer of rare earth minerals in Canada, opened a processing facility in Saskatoon this week that will feed into the global demand for minerals used in electric vehicles.

The 3,000-sq.-metre plant will refine ore from Vital’s Nechalacho project in the Northwest Territories into a high purity, mixed rare earth carbonate product, the company said. The mine, operated by Vital’s Yellowknife-based subsidiary Cheetah Resources began producing in June, 2021.

The product will be exported to REEtec in Norway and to a United States unit of Halifax-based Ucore Rare Metals (TSXV: UCU; OTC: UURAF) for further refining into individual magnetic rare earth metals, Vital said. The agreement with REEtec provides for the option of supplying as much as 5,000 tonnes a year of rare earth oxides except cerium for a period of more than a decade.

In turn, REEtec will ship the processed metals to Schaeffler Group near Nuremberg, Germany, to build electric motors for EVs, Vital said.

Schaeffler, a global automotive and industrial supplier with €13.9 billion in revenue last year, has developed its products in concept cars for EV markets in Europe, North America, China and India, including an experimental Audi model.

Vital’s interim chief executive officer Russell Bradford lauded the new plant’s role in the expanding rare earth supply chain at a ceremony on Sept. 20 with some 200 industry leaders and  community and government officials.

“We are intensely proud of what everyone has achieved to date,” Bradford said in a news release. “The foundations have been laid for a great future for all our stakeholders to develop our rare earth business.”

The Tardiff Zones of the Nechalacho deposit, located 110 kilometres southeast of Yellowknife contain an inferred resource of 1.3 million tonnes at 2.2% total rare earth oxides at 0.3% neodymium sesquioxide.

The bastnaesite subzone of the North T Zone has an indicated resource of 33,000 tonnes at 7.8% light rare earth oxides for 2,574 tonnes of light rare earth oxides, according to the company. It calls it one of the world’s highest grade rare earth projects.

Cheetah has its land use permits and water licence for the Nechalacho project, according to the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board (MVLWB), the regulatory authority of the N.W.T. The MVLWB classifies Nechalacho as a demonstration project. Vital acquired the near-surface resources at Nechalacho from Avalon Advanced Materials (TSX: AVL; US-OTC: AVLNF) in 2019. Avalon retains ownership of resources beneath 150 metres depth.

Vital is awaiting a mining licence for the Wigu Hill rare earths project in Tanzania, and has suspended exploration at the Nahouri gold project in Burkina Faso and the Aue cobalt project about 110 kilometres southwest of Dresden, Germany, according to the company’s 2021 annual report.