Rare Earth Material Extraction and Processing
Supply chain disadvantage equals regional security peril
A growing consensus among policymakers in Beijing to further reinforce the export bans and restrictions on rare earths imposed on the West since April 2023 is by no means a slight security concern. China seemingly seems intent on pursuing a strategy of weaponizing minerals like gallium and germanium, and North America has much to do regarding its ability to produce and refine rare earths needed for the green transition. The global demand for rare earth elements doubled to 300,000 t/y in the past decade (and was measured at barely 40,000 tons at the dawn of the century). “REEs are by far the rarest commodities needed for the green transition,” stated Commerce Resources’ president, Christopher Grove.
Turning rocks into magnet components is no easy task, particularly when processing plants, refineries, and recycling facilities are thousands of kilometers away. Figures from the International Energy Agency show that China controls a staggering 87% of global rare earths refining capacity. With this precarious geopolitical context in mind, the advances made over the last two years should enable Québec to establish itself as a well-needed North American leader in the entire rare metals value chain.
The terbium and dysprosium potential
The world can expect more samples and production to come from Québec’s northern territories in the year to come. Having added 15,000 m of drilling in 2023, Commerce Resources sees the potential for Ashram, one of the world’s largest RE deposits, to grow even bigger. Christopher Grove and his team keep developing the project and see growing interest for the firm’s mixed rare earth carbonate, with La Rochelle-based Solvay notably requesting more samples a decade after Christopher originally toured their facility in Western France. And in July 2022, Commerce Resources shipped its first sample of marketable mixed rare earth carbonate – Neodymium and Praseodymium – to a major rare earth producer. Grove explained: “Anybody with solvent extraction (SX) processing is looking for a new source of feedstock. The interest of anyone in magnet manufacturing would be in Commerce Resources because of our heavy percentage of the four key REEs for magnet manufacturing.”
"Unlike most other rare earth projects, the Strange Lake deposit contains the full suite of critical light— neodymium and praseodymium, and heavy rare earths—dysprosium and terbium."
Christine Burow, Chief Marketing Officer, Torngat Metals
Nunavik is poised to see socio-economic growth in parallel with the development of its rare earth industry. Financiers also understand the importance of building a rare earth supply chain outside of China. In November 2022, Torngat Metals secured a US$50 million investment from Cerberus Capital Management for its Strange Lake RE project in Nunavik. To date, this represents the biggest single investment in rare earths in Canada. Strange Lake is one of the largest rare earth deposits containing both light and heavy REs. That investment has unlocked the potential for Torngat to move towards a PFS and a BFS, with a path to the production of high-purity, rare-earth oxides in a few years after the BFS.
With the rapid acceleration in the production of EVs, dysprosium, and terbium have risen to the top of the criticality list. As put by Christine Burow, chief marketing officer, Torngat Metals: “To build a complete domestic North American supply chain there needs to be the certainty that rare earth oxides are going to be available domestically. To make manufacturing investments, these companies need certainty that they will have long-term supply security of responsibly produced rare earth from outside of China.”
Once in production, Torngat Metals’ Strange Lake project will be essential to the development of a complete North American supply chain for the EV market, as the firm should become the largest producer of dysprosium outside of China. That feat, critical for the electrification value chain, will be accomplished with the help of a Finnish firm with a global presence, Metso. The latter will pilot test the beneficiation of ore extracted from the Torngat Metals Strange Lake project, with the production of RE concentrate expected by the end of 2023. In the words of Giuseppe Campanelli, Metso’s president of North and Central America: “Metso has a pilot plant in place that will process ore from the Torngat Metals Strange Lake project. This project is a critical driver for the manufacturing of permanent magnets for electric motors, wind turbines, and other low-carbon technologies. The next stage will be to supply them with the engineering to showcase the scalability of their production.”
"Geomega will have two major deliverables over the next 12 months – our magnet demonstration plant and the pilot scale facility for bauxite residue processing. If these two projects are a success, it will be a major technological breakthrough for both industries."
Kiril Mugerman, President and CEO, Geomega Resources
Life after mine
While Québec is en route to enhancing its rare earth production by mid-decade, calls have emerged in recent years for the province and its North American neighbors to develop downstream capabilities. This would allow REEs produced in the continent to be processed locally, rather than having to travel to China (most probably), significantly impacting their overall carbon footprint, and Canada and the US’ ability to control the destiny of their minerals from mine to end product. Christopher Grove commented: “There is a lot of activity in terms of governments and industries looking at creating those nascent industries right now.”
This is illustrated by the joint government and Rio Tinto push to invest C$737 million to cut carbon emissions at the Rio Tinto Fer et Titane facility, which currently processes titanium dioxide and scandium oxide in Sorel-Tracy.
While there is need to debunk the inaccurate prejudices that producing rare earth is dirtier than the production of any other minerals, there are also debates to be had regarding our capacity to recycle them in North America. Indeed, the end spectrum of the value is what sets the region apart from its Asian counterpart, at least from the sustainability angle. Geomega is building the world’s first sustainable rare earths recycling facility in Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville capable of processing 4.5 t of magnet waste per day, leveraging two Québecois competitive advantages: unique innovative technology and hydropower. Expecting the plant to be commissioned in 2024, president and CEO Kiril Mugerman detailed the global economics behind the project: “When it comes to recycling rare earths, you are looking at small volumes of magnets, and thus we have no choice but to look at the global supply of magnet scrap. If you were to depend only on one country’s supply, it would be extremely hard to build an economical, large-volume operation.”
Projects that are at the peak of their development, such as Strange Lake and Ashram, showcase how Québec’s rare earth industry is reaching maturity. Actors in the province have the ambition to play key roles at the production, processing, and recycling levels, and have paved the way for the next years to be pivotal in Québec’s rare earths story.
Image courtesy of Commerce Resources