To ensure Canada doesn’t have to send its rare earth elements overseas for processing, the Government of Canada is investing over $16 million into the Saskatchewan Research Council located in Saskatoon.

With a portion of the money, SRC will purchase 2000 tons of bastnaesite, a mineral that plays a large role in the production of electric vehicles, wind turbines and everyday electronics.

Mike Crabtree, CEO of SRC, says the rest of the money will go towards developing a processing line for the mineral.

“The plants that we’re building here are to de-risk the technology, develop new technology, de-risk the financials and de-risk the market. Once we’ve done that, private investment will come into the province and Canada as a whole.”

It will be at least two more years before SRC will be able to process bastnaesite, however Crabtree says their monazite production line should be online within several months.

Federal Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Jonathan Wilkinson, says it’s important that Canada does not have to rely on China to process rare earth elements.

“We need to have sources that are coming from democratic friends and allies. Canada has many of the resources that are going to be required, and most of the G7 is looking to us to help them with their needs. We need to know how to process it. We need to have systems that are going to allow us to process it here in Canada.”

Once SRC has both processing lines up and running, it will be the only facility in North America that has done so.