In the words of John Dorward, the president and CEO of Vital Metals, seventeen (17) rare earth elements are found in the products that get shipped to the processing plant in Saskatoon. Of interest are two primary elements which are neodymium and praseodymium. They are used in making electric motors.
Recall that in 2021, Vital Metals started rare earth elements production at Nechalacho in Northwest Territories (NWT) where crushing and sorting of ore take place before sending to Saskatoon rare earth elements extraction plant to produce a rare earth carbonate product. Vital Metals is the first rare earth element producer in Canada and comes second in North America.
This was the plant visited by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday 16 January 2023.
The Prime Minister reminds everyone that Canada remains an extraordinarily reliable supplier of high-quality industrial raw materials in the current world economy. He affirmed it because in Canada, workers are paid well, health and safety concerns are top of mind, environmental consequences are thought through and minimized, and partnerships with Indigenous Peoples are not just an add-on at the end of the list, rather it is integrated entirely in the way of doing things.
Justin Trudeau further recognized the bottleneck in the raw materials supply chain and said it has been affecting many countries of the world in terms of raw material supply thus creating a very strong demand from those countries for Canada which has now become “The supplier of raw materials”.
The Government of Saskatchewan as ably led by Premier Scott Moe is optimistic that products from the processing plant will be available in the global market in 2024 making Saskatchewan stronger economically and by implication building a stronger Canada from Saskatchewan.
