“The sooner we produce oxides in North America, the faster we will attract companies capable of making alloys.” Kiril Mugerman
Rare earths: autonomy vis-à-vis China will be long. Chinese President Xi Jinping (Photo: Getty Images) The United States and Canada want to reduce their dependence on China’s rare earths. However, this process will be very long, because North America must create a new integrated supply chain, from extraction to processing to production.
In November, the Legault government launched a “government reflection” on critical and strategic minerals, including rare earths.
However, Quebec and Canada are light years away from having an integrated industry, says Kiril Mugerman, president and chief executive officer of Ressources Géoméga, an SME from Boucherville that owns the Montviel rare earth deposit. , in the Nord-du-Québec region.
“The sooner we produce oxides in North America, the faster we will attract companies capable of making alloys,” he insists.
In 2020, the entrepreneur will build a factory in Montérégie to recycle and process old permanent rare earth magnets, which are found in electric cars and wind turbines.
Géomega will only attempt to develop its Montviel deposit when North America is home to processors and producers.
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