- Vital Metals (VML) kicks off the construction of a Canadian extraction plant to process ore from its flagship Nechalacho mine
- The plant will have an initial throughput capacity of 1000 tonnes of rare earth oxides (REO) per year, excluding cerium
- Once built, however, the plant will have the capability to ramp up to 2000 tonnes of REO per year, excluding cerium
- Vital says it expects first feed into the plant before the end of 2021, with first product slated for before the end of June 2022
- Shares in Vital Metals close 1.79 per cent lower at 5.5 cents each this afternoon
Rare earths producer Vital Metals (VML) has kicked off the construction of a Canadian extraction plant to process ore from its flagship Nechalacho mine.
The extraction plant, which is being built in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, will have an initial throughput capacity of 1000 tonnes of rare earth oxides (REO) per year, excluding cerium. Vital Metals said this was equivalent to 470 tonnes per year of neodymium and praseodymium (NdPr) per year.
Once built, the plant will have the capability to ramp up to 2000 tonnes of REO per year, excluding cerium, which is equivalent to 940 tonnes per year of NdPr.
Vital said it had bought all major necessary processing equipment items for the plant within its budget.
The company said it expected first feed into the plant before the end of 2021.
Vital Managing Director Geoff Atkins said following first feed, the company planned to commission the plant incrementally over the first half of 2022, meaning first product from the plant is slated for before the end of June next year.
“Vital has procured all key equipment required to process REE ore from our Nechalacho operation in the Northwest Territories into rare earth carbonate at the Saskatoon plant, including oversizing of some items to enable us to increase production in our second stage of operations,” Mr Atkins said.
“This procurement represents all major plant, equipment and engineering for the project, at a cost of approximately $6 million, despite the majority of equipment being oversized.”
He said the decision to oversize some of the items is based on the experience of the Vital management team at other rare earths projects.
“Construction of our custom-built facility is underway at the same time as the SRC Rare Earth Processing Facility being built by Saskatchewan Research Council, and it’s exciting to see this rare earths hub start to take shape in Saskatoon.”
The purchased equipment includes dense media separators, gravity separation tables, centrifuges, waste gas scrubbers, and more.
The Nechalacho Project lies in Canada’s Northwest Territories (NWT).
Shares in Vital Metals closed 1.79 per cent lower at 5.5 cents each this afternoon. The company has a $221.5 million market cap.