SASKATCHEWAN RESEARCH COUNCIL
New Rare Earth Processing
Facility in Saskatchewan to Secure
North American Supply Chain
New facility scheduled for completion in 2022
In the coming decade, the need for rare
earth elements (REEs) will increase
many-fold due to their importance in
high-growth technology areas such as wind
turbines and electric cars. Canadian rock formations
hold 12 per cent of the world’s REE
measured resources. But currently, no REEs
are being processed in Canada due to both a
Chinese monopoly as supplier and end user,
as well as the lack of a fully developed supply
chain in North America.
The Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC)
is looking to change that by securing an early
and important piece of the supply chain for industry
– a Rare Earth Processing Facility. The
$35 million dollar facility was announced in
the summer of 2020 by the Government of
Saskatchewan. The facility will be located in
Saskatoon, Sask., and completion is slated for
the fall of 2022.
The facility, a first-of-its-kind in North
America, will begin to establish a REE
technology hub in Saskatchewan, forming an
industry model for future commercial REE initiatives
and supply chain development.
A key element of the facility is a commercial
processing plant, which will include concentration
and separation stages and treat monazite
sands at approximately 60 per cent concentration.
Monazite is a source of mainly so called
“light” REEs (especially cerium, lanthanum,
praseodymium, neodymium) which are some
of the critical elements for the permanent
By Rebecca Gotto, SRC Communications
COURTESY OF THE SASKATCHEWAN RESEARCH COUNCIL
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