Geomega provides update on demo plant and preparation activities at Saint-Hubert facility
by CM Staff
Geomega’s engineering team has begun a design change for the rare earths recycling demonstration plant from a batch process to a continuous 24hrs operation with smaller equipment and lower demand for utilities.
MONTREAL — Geomega Resources Inc., a developer of clean technologies for the mining, refining, and recycling of rare earths and other critical materials, provided an update to shareholders on its rare earths recycling demonstration plant, including certain required project design modifications, and an update on site preparation activities that have started at the Saint-Hubert facility.
The past 6 months have been spent towards bringing engineering to a sufficient level of completion that it could be tendered to the construction contractors for execution and completion of the rare earths recycling demonstration project. Procurement also progressed and various items were ordered while others were received at the Saint-Hubert facility during this period. In parallel, permitting activities have been ongoing at both the municipal and provincial levels. The objective was to be able to start the construction activities in February 2024. As a result of providing all the requested data to the governmental authorities, Geomega was notified by the municipality of Saint-Hubert, a borough within the city of Longueuil, that the sewer system capacity is not currently able to accommodate the water discharges from the cooling tower that was to be installed for the demonstration plant. Various solutions have been evaluated by Geomega, including in collaboration with city engineers, however none were appropriate for the project due to resulting increased costs, additional unforeseeable delays, and the overall feasibility of the proposed solution. As a result, Geomega had to undertake a design change for the rare earths recycling demonstration plant.
Geomega’s engineering team has begun a design change for the rare earths recycling demonstration plant from a batch process to a continuous 24hrs operation with smaller equipment and lower demand for utilities, most importantly in regard to the cooling requirements. Despite the design change, the demonstration plant throughput capacity is planned to remain unchanged at 1.5 tonnes of feed material per day.
Following a thorough review of the required construction activities and the ongoing design change, the engineering team was able to select several items that are not being impacted by the design change to continuous operation. In particular, Geomega has secured the services of a local construction company that will manage and execute the required work.
