Latest News

Miner backed by Canada province promises to compete with China in uncommon earths

The Canadian province of Saskatchewan has sworn to take on China in processing and production of uncommon earths and become the first North American industrial alternative source for the metals, utilized to make magnets for electrical vehicles and wind turbines.

The Saskatchewan Research Council Rare Earth Processing facility is banking on need for these magnets to leap in the next number of years, driven by need from original equipment producers such as car manufacturers.

The Canadian province, home to copper, potash and uranium mines, is understood for its mining prowess.

China manages 95% of the global production and supply of unusual earth metals. The near-monopoly enables the nation to determine prices and create uncertainty for end users through export controls.

In the last year, China has actually placed export controls on some critical metals such as germanium, gallium and antimony, requiring western governments to try to find alternatives.

The SRC Rare Earth processing facility has started production on a business scale and anticipates to strike a production target of 40 tonnes of rare earth metals each month by the end of this year. And it will produce 400 tonnes of the NdPr metals per year, which suffices to produce 500,000 EVs, according to SRC. The facility has currently consolidated possible customers in South Korea, Japan and the United States.

Our focus is to remain competitive within the Asian Metals Rate Index, stated Muhammad Imran, vice president of the SRC Unusual Earth Element. We are continuously aiming to optimise our facility utilizing expert system applications that would keep our procedure effective, Imran stated.

The price of unusual earth metals such as neodymium praseodymium, called NdPr, changes between US$ 65,000 and US$ 75,000 per tonne, a rate determined by the Chinese government.

However, some miners have been requesting a premium price for metals produced outside China, arguing that Chinese metals are produced with low ecological, social and governance standards.

Regardless, Imran said, the marketplace will remain competitive and producers have to be prepared to meet the referral point of the Asian Metals Index.

This is what the market is informing you the rate for uncommon earth is, if someone can strike a better offer that's great, but premium or no premium the marketplace is going to be competitive, he said.

(source: Reuters)