Mining Intelligence and News
Canada

Nechalacho Mine

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Overview

Mine TypeOpen Pit
StageRestarting
Commodities
  • REE
Mining Method
  • Truck & Shovel / Loader
SnapshotA mining campaign was carried out at the Nechalacho, North T site in 2021. Local contract mining company Det’on Cho Nahanni Construction mined nearly 58,000 tonnes of ore from the North T pit at Nechalacho during a five-month mining campaign. Vital will again crush and sort the ore from this mining campaign starting in May 2024 and this will continue over the next couple of years, aided by a further mining campaign in the future, as required.

Vital Metals Limited ceased its construction of the rare earth processing plant in Saskatoon and intends to continue its exploration and development activities at the Nechalacho projects whilst assessing opportunities to acquire further suitable projects for exploration and development as they arise.

Vital plans to complete a Scoping Study for Tardiff in CY2024, from which can build a plan for the next steps at Nechalacho project.

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Vital Metals Ltd. 100 % Indirect

Contractors

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Deposit type

  • Magmatic

Summary:

The mineral deposits at Thor Lake site include the Nechalacho deposit, and the separate and distinct R, S and T Zones, with the Nechalacho deposit bearing many of the attributes of an apogranite originating as an apical or domal facies of the parental syenite and granite. The deposits are extensively metasomatized with pronounced magmatic layering and cyclic ore mineral deposition.

The main chemical features of the Nechalacho deposit that contrast to those overall features are that the rare earth levels are higher than typical, uranium is not particularly high, with anomalous but modest levels of thorium, and the lack of beryllium mineralization. Beryllium is present in the North T deposit, a separate smaller deposit to the north with dissimilar geology. The R, S and T Zones are small separate pegmatitic bodies to the north and northeast of the Nechalacho deposit.

The preferred genetic model is that of igneous differentiation within a closed-system with rare earth element concentration within a residual magma, aided by depression of the freezing temperature of the magma by fluorine and possibly carbon dioxide.

Nechalacho mineralization is hosted in nepheline syenite that has been extensively hydrothermally altered in areas of mineralization. The payable elements of the Nechalacho deposit are typically hosted in a number of minerals, summarized as follows:

-LREEs dominantly occur in bastnaesite, synchisite, monazite and allanite.

-HREEs dominantly occur in zircon, fergusonite and rare xenotime.

-Zirconium (Zr), along with HREE, niobium and tantalum occurs in zircon and other zircono-silicates (eudialyte).

-Niobium and tantalum occur in columbite and ferrocolumbite, fergusonite and zircon.

Reserves

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Mining Methods

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

Milling equipment has not been reported.

Processing

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Production

CommodityUnitsAvg. Annual
Total Rare Earth Oxides t 1,000

Operational metrics

Metrics
Plant annual capacity  ....  Subscribe
* According to 2022 study.

Production Costs

Commodity production costs have not been reported.

Heavy Mobile Equipment

Fleet data has not been reported.

Personnel

Mine Management

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Dec 11, 2023
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Dec 11, 2023

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