Chronicle of raw materials
Canada gets into the production of rare earths
Audio 01:29
A rare earth mine (illustration image).
Getty Images/Bloomberg Creative - Bloomberg Creative
By: Altin Lazaj
1 min
Canada wants to become a major player in the exploitation of rare earths.
A mine in the northwest of the country has started delivering its first rare earth concentrates.
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Essential elements in advanced technologies and for the ecological transition, rare earths have become strategic raw materials for many industrial sectors.
Their demand has been growing for several years and prices are soaring.
China has the monopoly of this market, it concentrates 60% of the annual world extraction.
To no longer depend on the Middle Kingdom, Canada has therefore decided to embark on the production of these metals.
Production began at the Nechalacho mine, currently the only extraction site in Canada.
Located on the edge of the "slave lake", the mine has a production capacity of 5,000 tonnes of rare earth concentrate per year.
Cheetah Resources, the Canadian company that owns the site, aims to multiply production by five within three years.
Other rare earth mining projects are underway in the country, 13 in total.
The largest rare earth reserves in the world
Canada has some of the largest reserves of rare earths in the world, estimated at 14 million tonnes, according to the federal government.
Enough to meet the needs of the country and export.
Canada thus becomes the second country in North America after the United States to set up a rare earth production site.
With the help of the American government anxious to circumvent China, the Mountain Pass mine in California, a time closed, restarted its production in 2018. Result: the United States today provides nearly 16% of world production. of rare earths.
► To read also: Rare earths, a global giant should be created in China
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