The money, from Prairies Economic Development Canada, will allow the Saskatchewan Research Council to establish a bastnaesite processing unit to make ingots that can be used to produce magnets for electric vehicles

The Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC) has secured new funding from the federal government to expand its rare earth processing facility in Saskatoon.

The SRC will use the money — $15.96 million from Prairies Economic Development Canada — to create a processing unit for bastnaesite, a red rock ore rich in rare earth elements.

Bastnaesite contains 17 rare earth elements, explained Saskatchewan Research Council president and CEO Mike Crabtree at a press conference held last week.

Once processed, the material will be transformed into a mixed rare earth product, which will then be smelted into ingots. These ingots can be used to produce magnets for electric vehicles. A single ingot, said Crabtree, can make batteries for up to five electric vehicles.

“These ores are going to be critical to the energy transformation, and will make Canada an energy minerals powerhouse going forward in the future,” said Crabtree.

“We hear a lot about lithium, and rightly so. Lithium is the gas tank of an electric vehicle, while rare earths make the engine. No engine [means] no electric vehicles. This is why these ores and the development of this midstream processing is so important”

Securing the supply chain

The SRC, which is a treasury board Crown corporation overseen by the Saskatchewan government, is set to process 2,000 tonnes of bastnaesite at its Saskatoon facility over the next two years.

The bastnaesite materials were purchased from Vital Metals Ltd.’s Canadian operations in the Northwest Territories. Originally, this bastnaesite was slated to be sold to China’s Shenghe Resources Holding Co., but the transaction was reversed in June by Vital Metals.

“Presently, ownership of many important minerals and processing technologies are geographically highly concentrating, putting supply chains at risk,” said Jonathan Wilkinson, federal minister of energy and natural resources.

“We need to have a secure source and supply chain for critical minerals. That’s really what this project was about — right from the very beginning — was creating that midstream capacity that would then in sample downstream and upstream applications for rare earths,” added Jeremy Harrison, Saskatchewan’s minister of trade and export development.

The 2,000 tonnes of bastnaesite is expected to yield enough material to produce magnets for over 62,000 electric vehicles.

Beyond boosting its rare earth processing capability, the SRC is also poised to contribute to job growth and skill development. As part of the PrairiesCan investment, the SRC will collaborate with a local educational institution to develop and deliver a training program for Indigenous students to operate the processing equipment.

Processing facility timeline

In addition to developing a new processing line for bastnaesite, the research council has been already advancing its capabilities in rare earth element processing with an existing line dedicated to monazite. Monazite, like bastnaesite, contains a high concentration of rare earth materials.

Since 2020, SRC has been constructing its rare earth elements processing facility in Saskatoon and has developed a process to separate unrecovered rare earth oxides from radioactive monazite tailings. 

The Government of Canada has previously provided SRC with $13.5 million for the facility project, while Saskatchewan government has invested $71 million.

The facility is on the verge of becoming operational, with Crabtree noting that SRC is just “a few months away” from opening. He described it as “a real game changer” for Saskatchewan, Canada, and North America, as it will be the first facility of its kind in the region.

“By the end of this year, SRC intends to start a commercial operation of this facility, producing sufficient rare earth metals to manufacture over half a million electric vehicles annually,” said Crabtree.

Crabtree also emphasized the strategic importance of Canada’s role in the global rare earth market.

“Canada doesn’t need to get a foothold in the rare earths market — it already controls over 90 percent of it globally,” he stated. “The question is, how do we as Canadians get a foothold in the rare earths market? This is exactly what these projects are about — not only producing mining the ore to be able to export it to China. It is to mine the ore, to process it here, to get that additional value and be self sufficient in rare earths as we go forward in the coming decades.”

NRCan funding

In addition to the PrairiesCan funding, Natural Resources Canada’s Critical Minerals Geoscience Data Initiative has provided $209,330 to the SRC to develop a publicly accessible database of mineral characteristics.

“This database will give the mining industry the opportunity to kick start new exploration projects, but also resume exploration operations on plays that were once deemed non-profitable,” said Crabtree.

“This database, developed by the SRC, will provide many companies with the technology and technical information informing them on what sorting processes are best to separate specific critical minerals. [It will] reduce waste, reduce their carbon footprint and increase the overall efficiency and profitability of the mining operation.”