Vital’s Saskatoon plant will have initial throughput capacity of 1,000 tonnes per year of rare earth oxide (REO) excluding cerium, which is equivalent to ~470t NdPr/year.
Results show the DMS plant Sinks achieved comparable grades to those seen in testwork, with 43.7% total rare earth oxide (TREO) achieved from the DMS Cyclone at Saskatoon, compared to 44.6% TREO achieved in laboratory conditions at SGS.
The DMS unit also achieved 75.2% recovery in its first run for a single pass, processing ~2,300kg of concentrate mined at Vital’s Nechalacho rare earth project, sorted onsite and then crushed at the Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC) facility adjacent to Vital’s Saskatoon plant as part of a rare earths hub.
“The fact that on the first run we hit the laboratory test grades for total rare earths with 75% recovery with low grade feed material is above expectations,” Vital Metals Managing Director Geoff Atkins said in a
