Vital Metals Ltd (VTMXF)

[douginil]

COMMISSIONING COMMENCES AT VITAL’S SASKATOON RARE EARTH EXTRACTION PLANT


- Commissioning at Vital’s Saskatoon Rare Earth Extraction Plant commences, with ore fed into the dense media separation (DMS) unit
- Commissioning and ramp-up of the Saskatoon Plant will occur over two distinct phases: the product qualification phase before the throughput ramp-up phase commences
- Initial focus is production of 2.5 tonnes of rare earth carbonate at specification for delivery to offtake partner REEtec in accordance with agreed qualification protocols
- Vital is targeting delivery of this product to REEtec in October 2022
- Phase 2 of plant commissioning will then commence with throughput ramp-up and associated contract deliveries to REEtec
- Saskatoon facility will process rare earth ore mined at Vital’s Nechalacho project in Northwest Territories, Canada
- Vital expects to ramp up production volumes at Saskatoon through two stages:
- - Stage 1 throughput capacity of 1,000t/yr REO (ex-cerium), equivalent to 470t/yr NdPr
- - Stage 2 capacity of 2,000t/yr REO (ex-cerium), equivalent to 940t/yr NdPr
- Vital will supply REEtec with 750t/yr NdPr – or 75% of Saskatoon’s Stage 2 capacity


Canada’s first rare earths producer Vital Metals Limited (ASX: VML l OTCQB: VTMXF) (“Vital”, “Vital Metals” or “the Company”) is pleased to announce it has commenced feeding ore into a dense media separation (DMS) plant as part of commissioning its rare earth extraction facility in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Vital will commission the Saskatoon facility incrementally over coming months with plans to produce a 2.5t rare earth carbonate sample for offtake partner REEtec Ag as the nextstep of product qualification. Vital is processing ore from the Company’s Nechalacho operation in Canada’s Northwest Territories, where mining commenced in mid-2021.

Vital Metals Managing Director Geoff Atkins said: “This is an exciting step for the Company as we continue our transition from rare earth developer to operator. We have been a rare earth miner for more than 12 months and now we can commence production of rare earth carbonate. We are excited to have reached this milestone at Saskatoon despite the challenges surrounding supply chains and logistics across the world.

“We are targeting to produce 2.5t of carbonate for REEtec as an important step of our production qualification process before we commence ramping up our volume. We are forecasting for this to occur in October 2022.”

To read more goto:
https://vitalmetals.com.au/investor-centre/asx-announcements/
click on the June 16 announcement.