What have been the main milestones achieved by Torngat Metals over the past year?

Torngat Metals has secured a new strategic partner, Cerberus Capital Management, that has committed US$50 million to the Strange Lake rare earths project, allowing us to proceed on all fronts. Torngat is now a foundational company in their Supply Chain and Strategic Opportunities Fund, focused on strengthening the critical supply chains of the US and its allies, especially Canada.

Can you elaborate on Torngat’s timeline on the pathway to production?

During the first half of 2023, Torngat has been focused on building and executing a comprehensive plan, and we are in the process of refining our schedule. We are happy to have already started the environmental impact assessments as there are multiple jurisdictions that we must comply with, including Canada, Québec, the Kativik Regional Government (KRG), and the Newfoundland and Labrador, and Nunatsiavut governments.

We have a large engineering effort underway. Torngat aims to complete our pre-feasibility and feasibility studies by the end of 2025. We will then go straight into obtaining permits and raising construction financing, moving steadily towards construction and ultimately production.

How do you plan on feeding the growing rare earth market once Strange Lake goes into production?

To meet demand there needs to be a significant increase in supply. We believe in the goal of growing a rare earth industry in Canada, which means multiple projects need to get into production here within the next few years. For our part, Torngat continues to improve the efficiency of our processing to have the most cost-effective production of rare earths while mining in a socially and environmentally responsible manner.

Unlike most other rare earth projects, the Strange Lake deposit contains the full suite of critical light— neodymium and praseodymium, and heavy rare earths—dysprosium and terbium. Most projects are lacking in these two heavy rare earths critical for the production of permanent magnets that enable high-efficiency motors for electric vehicles (EV), wind energy, robotics, drones, and other leading-edge technologies. Fortunately, Torngat Metals will be in a position to address the dysprosium and terbium supply gap and will be the largest producer of dysprosium outside of China.

What is the state of the rare earth supply chain in North America, and how can it improve?

The permanent magnet supply chain starts from high purity separated rare earth oxides, conversion to their metal form, production of magnet alloys, production of magnets, and finally assembly into finished products. To build a complete domestic North American supply chain there needs to be the certainty that rare earth oxides are going to be available domestically. There have been several announcements from companies considering and planning to make permanent magnets again in North America, but to make those manufacturing investments, these companies need certainty that they will have long-term supply security of responsibly produced rare earth from outside of China. This is a difficult supply chain to build— how do you line up all of the investments for each required supply chain step at the same time when they are dependent on each other for making big capital decisions? This is where governments play a key role and it’s been exciting to see the release of the Québec government’s Critical and Strategic Minerals Strategy and the Canadian and US governments’ new critical minerals strategies, policies, and acts being implemented. It proves that there is support for developing a North American supply chain, and this is extremely important for securing investment across every supply chain step.

What is the importance of Québec for the future of the green transition?

Québec is leading the way, not only due to the significant geological endowment but also because the province has a long history of successful mining and is continuing to improve how it does mining in terms of Indigenous partnerships, and environmental, social, and governance standards.

What will be Torngat’s key priorities in the next year?

We are expanding and building the team and advancing strategic partnerships. This includes partnering with Indigenous communities who are the experts on their land. Another key focus is executing the environmental impact assessment processes, since these vital processes require significant time and effort.