Why Saskatchewan wants to break into the rare earths market [Video]

A Saskatchewan organization is breaking ground as the first to commercially produce rare earth metals in North America.

The Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC) first achieved the feat over the summer when it extracted neodymium praseodymium (NdPr) from a mineral called monazite. The group plans to break into the Chinese-dominated market once its facility is fully operational next year.

“The reason this isn’t happening all over the place is because it is really hard to do,” said Jeremy Harrison, the provincial minister responsible for the SRC treasury board crown corporation.

For decades, China has realized the value of rare earth metals — a set of 17 elements on the periodic table — that are key components in the digital world and used in everything from cell phones to electric vehicles (EVs).

NdPr powers the strongest type of rare earth magnets used in EVs. The material is almost entirely outsourced from China, …