Australia’s Vital Metals (ASX: VML) has in less than three months progressed from shipping out its first load of mixed rare earth carbonate to receiving positive results on the first processing pass at its new facility in Saskatoon, Sask.
Vital is the first rare earth producer in Canada and the second in North America, after MP Materials‘ (NYSE: MP) Mountain Pass mine in California.
The dense media separation (DMS) unit at the plant processed about 2,300 kg of concentrate mined at Vital’s Nechalacho rare earth project in the Northwest Territories, achieving a result of 75.2% recovery, the company said in a news release on July 8.
Vital Metals mining operation at the Nechalacho rare earths demonstration project in the Northwest Territories. Credit: Vital Metals/Bill Braden Photo
“[That] very closely matches the expectations that were predicted during the design,” David Connelly, vice-president of strategy and corporate affairs with Vital’s Yellowknife-based subsidiary Cheetah Resources, told The Northern Miner. “It’s a good indication that the equipment is doing what it was predicted to do.”
In mid-April, the company transported its first load of 500 tonnes of rare earths from Hay River, N.W.T to the new, 40,000-sq.-ft facility in Saskatoon. That haul was part of the more than 5,000 tonnes mined last year at the North T zone of Nechalacho — about 100 km southeast of Yellowknife — and transported by barge across Great Slave Lake to Hay River.
While Connelly declined to answer questions about Nechalacho’s permit status, Cheetah has its land use permits and water licence for the 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.
Once in Saskatoon, the concentrate was crushed at the Saskatchewan Research Council’s Rare Earth Processing Facility and before being treated at Vital’s adjacent plant.
Pilot testing of the concentrate was done by the SGS laboratory in Saskatchewan, with metallurgical tests returning a grade of 44.6% total rare earth oxide (TREO). Vital’s own DMS testing showed a grade of 43.7% TREO.
Vincent Laniece, general manager of operations at the Vital facility said that greater concentration should be expected after concentrate rejected from the DMS is recycled through it a couple more times.
“We’re already obtaining the same results as the lab test and we didn’t do any optimization yet. We have room to do better. Right now we’re recovering 75%. There is room to get to 85% or 90%,” he said.
The plant has yet to ramp up to the full capacity of the first phase of production. The DMS unit, which Connelly calls “the Cadillac piece” for its separation capabilities is just the first of a six-circuit processing chain. The additional circuits will be installed and commissioned as they arrive at the facility.
Following the DMS circuit, Laniece explained, the next circuit will be the kiln in which product from the DMS is baked to a temperature that allows for solubility of elements in the subsequent leaching circuit. Two purification circuits follow, before the final circuit of precipitation of the cerium-reduced mixed rare earth carbonate.
The six circuits are expected to be commissioned by September or October, Laniece said.
REEtec sales agreement
The first export of a 2.5-tonne carbonate sample to REEtec, a rare earths producer in Norway is anticipated to happen in the fall, Connelly said. He could not comment on how much REEtec would pay for the sample, citing confidentiality.
Under a joint agreement, Vital will annually sell to REEtec carbonate consisting of at least 750 tonnes of neodymium and praseodymium contained within 2,000 tonnes of rare earth oxides that have a maximum of 25% cerium.
Vital is aiming in its first phase to produce 1,000 tonnes of cerium-reduced carbonate from about 5,000 tonnes of ore per year. By the end of 2023 or 2024 it hopes to double output capacity to 2,000 tonnes per year, Connelly said.
In terms of workforce, the company is currently employing contractors and three employees at the plant, with offers out for seven more. It is working towards 40 new employees for the first phase.
The currently producing North T zone at Nechalacho hosts measured and indicated resources of 101,000 tonnes grading 9.01% light rare earth oxides (2.2% neodymium-praseodymium). It will support more than four years of mining.
The larger Tardiff zone that has yet to be developed is expected to support more than 50 years of mining.
It contains measured resources of 286,563 tonnes grading 2.7% TREO and indicated resources of 1.6 million tonnes of 2.4% TREO. Inferred resources add 1.3 million tonnes at 2.2% TREO. The estimates used a cutoff grade of 0.3% ND2O3.
Global prices for rare earth elements surged in late 2021 to their highest levels seen in five years before peaking in February, dipping and then falling more sharply at the start of July. Neodymium and praseodymium oxide currently sit at US$133,968 per metric tonne, according to data from the Shanghai Metals Market.
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