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- Vital Metals’ (VML) mining contractors have completed the first blast at the company’s Nechalacho Rare Earths Project
- The company expects to commence production of rare earth oxide at the project in the June 2021 quarter
- Concentrate production will start in June, followed by cracking and leaching later in the year
- Once in production, the company will be the first rare earths producer in Canada and the second in North America
- Vital Metals is up 3.64 per cent and trading at 5.7 cents per share
Vital Metals’ (VML) mining contractors have completed the first blast at the company’s Nechalacho Rare Earths Project.
The project is located in the Northwest Territories of Canada and is the country’s first rare earth mine.
The company began drilling at Nechalacho in February of this year, in order to define a mine plan for stage two rare earth production at the project in 2021. This was followed by the commencement of mining operations at Nechalacho in March, in another step towards rare earth production.
Vital Metals’ contractor, Det’on Cho Nahanni Construction, has finally achieved the first major milestone of an initial mining blast at the project.
Vital Metals’ Managing Director, Geoff Atkins, commented on the significance of the company’s first mining blast at Nechalacho.
“This is another exciting milestone for Vital as we move closer to rare earths production at Nechalacho this quarter,” he said.
“Plans are progressing to schedule, with all equipment now delivered to site and we look forward to achieving production status in the coming weeks,” he added.
Vital Metals now expects to commence production of rare earth oxide at Nechalacho in the June 2021 quarter. Specifically, concentrate production will begin via ore sorting in June, before it is sent to a cracking and leaching facility in Saskatoon later this year.
Once Vital Metals is finally in production at Nechalacho, the company will be the first rare earths producer in Canada, and only the second rare earths producer in the entire North American continent.
Vital Metals is up 3.64 per cent, trading at 5.7 cents per share at 10:12 am AEST.
