Federal government invests in EV supply chain through support for Saskatchewan Research Council

LONDON — During the Canada-UK Industrial Decarbonization Forum, Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, joined by Mike Crabtree, President and CEO of the Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC), announced an investment of $4,990,000 to SRC through the Critical Minerals Research, Development and Demonstration (CMRDD) program.

With this funding, SRC will develop an advanced and innovative process to separate rare earth elements (REE). These are alloys that are essential for clean energy sources and technologies such as wind turbines and electric vehicles. This will help increase the supply of battery metals that are needed for the development of a domestic electric vehicle value chain. This process will produce enough material to help build over half a million electric vehicle motors annually. Further, once the project is complete, Canada will be able to produce these critical minerals at commercial scale — a Canadian first for rare earth element processing.

Instead of shipping Canada’s concentrates overseas for foreign separation, this project will support Canada’s direct participation in the growing market for rare earth elements.

“Critical minerals like the rare earth elements that will be produced through SRC’s innovative new separation process are integral parts of the electric vehicle value chain. Demand for these resources is going to grow exponentially as we build up a low-carbon economy. That is why we are taking action to build resilient and secure supply chains that provide the materials we, and nations around the world, need, right here in Canada. Investments like this one are advancing our ambitious goals while also creating good jobs and building a prosperous and sustainable low-carbon economy,” said Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources.