Ottawa Commits $16M to Sask. Plant to Process Rare Earth Minerals for EV Production

Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson rises during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on June 20, 2022. (The Canadian Press/Patrick Doyle)

The federal government has announced a $16 million investment in a Saskatchewan critical mineral facility to boost its processing capabilities for elements to help in production of electric vehicles and wind turbines.

Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson said on Aug. 14 that the funding for Canada’s first rare earth processing facility, located in Saskatoon, will allow Canada to process critical minerals that are “the building blocks of clean energy.” Run by the Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC), the facility will use the federal funding to increase its bastnaesite processing capacity.

Wilkinson noted China has been “moving very strategically” to gain dominance in the sector, and said Canada doesn’t want to be “fully dependent on China” for rare earth minerals.

Saskatchewan Minister of Trade Jeremy Harrison called the SRC project one of “international significance” amid China’s dominance in the industry.

“They have really used that position as leverage that goes beyond market reasons but for strategic reasons,” he said during the press conference. “This is a significant problem considering the fact that rare earths are of such vital importance for our modern economy.

“We need to have a secure source and supply chain for critical minerals,” he added. “And that’s really what this project was about from the very beginning.”

A large portion of the funding—$15.96 million—will be used by the Saskatchewan Research Council to acquire bastnaesite from Canadian sources and create new domestic capacity for bastnaesite processing at SRC’s Rare Earth Processing Facility, Wilkinson said.

The SRC will process bastnaesite ore sourced from the Canadian operations of Vital Metals Ltd. The ore will be transformed into a mixed rare earth product, which will be further refined through SRC’s solvent extraction and metal smelting technology to produce rare earth metals, according to an Aug. 14 government press release.

An additional $209,330 will be used for the creation of a publicly available database of mineral characteristics, to expand the understanding of critical mineral deposits in Canada and reduce mining waste. The goal, Wilkinson said, is to use the data to make better predictions about the types of deposits that can be identified by sensor-based sorting. It is expected to reduce the costs of developing critical mineral deposits into mines as well as the energy consumption and waste associated with the mines.

Canada has some of the largest known reserves and resources of rare earths, estimated at more than 14 million tonnes in 2021, according to the SRC. The federal government has identified 34 critical minerals, 27 of which can be found in Saskatchewan.