Vital Metals Limited announced 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 next step of product qualification. Vital is processing ore from the Company's Nechalacho operation in Canada's Northwest Territories, where mining commenced in mid-2021.

With DMS commissioning commenced, over the coming months Vital will incrementally commission the calcination, leaching and purification & precipitation equipment at Saskatoon. This approach will focus on producing product at specification whilst minimising off-spec production, and hence wastage. Vital's Saskatoon plant will have initial throughput capacity of 1,000 tonnes/year of rare earth oxide (REO) excluding cerium, which is equivalent to ~470t NdPr/year.

Stage 2 will produce 2,000 tonnes/year REO excluding cerium, equivalent to 940t NdPr/year. Under Vital's amended offtake agreement with REEtec, following REEtec's decision to use Vital's product as its principal feedstock for its rare earth separation facility, Vital will incrementally deliver 187.5t NdPr (contained within approximately 500t TREO) to REEtec by October 2023 and a minimum of 750t/year NdPr over five years (total 3,750t NdPr) contained within approximately 2,000t/year TREO. Vital's process will naturally remove a significant percentage of cerium with the final product to contain a maximum of 25% cerium.

Vital also has a Memorandum of Understanding with Ucore Rare Metals, for Vital to supply rare earth carbonate feedstock for Ucore's ALASKA2023 project. Under the MOU, Vital will sell to Ucore a minimum of 500t REO (ex-cerium)/year, commencing H1 2024. Vital's Saskatoon facility is adjacent to a rare earth processing plant under construction by Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC) as part of a rare earths hub.

The SRC is providing technical support during the construction and operation of the plant as part of ongoing collaboration, allowing Vital and SRC to maximise potential synergies between the two operations. Earlier this year, Vital was advised that it is to receive C$5 million funding from PrairiesCan under Canada's Jobs and Growth Fund to assist with working capital during ramp-up of its operations, including establishing the Saskatoon facility. Vital will commence repaying the facility in monthly instalments over five years from April 2024.