Sask. rare earth elements facility expected to secure North American supply chain

A recent global shortage of computer chips and semiconductors has plenty of people looking to an upcoming facility in Saskatoon as part of the solution.

Naturally occurring rare earth elements are key components in many modern electronics — from electric vehicles to smart TVs and cellphones.

There are 17 rare earth elements: Cerium, dysprosium, erbium, europium, gadolinium, holmium, lanthanum, lutetium, neodymium, praseodymium, promethium, samarium, scandium, terbium, thulium, ytterbium and yttrium.

University of Saskatchewan geological sciences professor Kevin Ansdell said while rare earth elements are actually more common than elements like diamond or gold, they will become more important as more products depend on them.

“They have an important component within each of these high-tech and green energy applications,” Ansdell said.

Complicating any further shortages of rare earth elements is a lack of available supply chains.

Nearly all of the processing and mining of rare earth elements is done in China.

Last week, U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order for the purpose of strengthening supply chains, which included those for rare earth elements.

“The U.S., and also the European Union, are interested in developing their own supply chains so they’re not dependent on China,” Ansdell said. “China does really control the rare earth element market.”

Ansdell said China’s corner on the market has created conditions that make it far too expensive to try and begin exploration or mining of rare earth elements when you can access the supplies from China.

The recent computer chip shortage has shown how delicate that relationship can be when access is limited.

A new supply chain could run through Saskatoon as early as next year.

The Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC) is currently building a $31-million rare earth element processing facility in Saskatoon. The facility is expected to be operational by the end of 2022.

“It will be the first rare earth element processing plant in North America,” Ansdell said.

Opening up additional supply chains would be greatly beneficial for the province.

“The ability for other countries around the world to have a different supply chain that is not dependent on China I think would be a very important advantage,” Ansdell said.

The SRC has previously worked on pilot projects processing rare earth elements, but this new facility would vastly increase capacity and open up Saskatchewan to mining markets across the world.

“Because it’s not associated with a mine is that rare earth element mines in North America or other parts of the world could send their material to be processed here in Saskatoon,” Ansdell said.

“The processing is very difficult and is sort of the bottleneck through this whole process.”

Ansdell said a formation of high-grade rare earth elements was discovered at Alces Lake in northern Saskatchewan near Uranium City.

With a strong repertoire of elements and minerals the world needs, the discovery of rare earth elements and a new processing plant can be added to the list of treasures in Saskatchewan.

“Both the Precambrian shield rocks up north — where you got the gold and rare earth elements, as well as the uranium. Then in the south with the oil and gas, potash and interest around helium … it is a geological storehouse of goodies,” Ansdell said.