Brand new opportunities could be coming to Saskatchewan after an alumina deposit holding an estimated 6.8 billion tonnes was discovered by Canadian Energy Metals corp. (CEM) near Tisdale.
The company calls it one of the largest known deposits on Earth, dubbing it “Project Thor.”
Premier Scott Moe thinks the newly-discovered deposit will have major benefits both for Saskatchewan and the country.
“The global demand for this resource, which is significant today and going to be much more significant in the months and years ahead,” Moe sai.
“To have a third of .. that resource present right here in Saskatchewan, that’s a significant discussion.”
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Alumina is a key component for making aluminum. Production usually starts with bauxite, which is refined into alumina. However, Christoper Hopkins, CEM president and CEO, says using bauxite is an ‘ugly’ process that can be energy-intensive and create huge waste.
“Bauxite processing is a dirty business. It creates. Bad side effects in terms of red mud, consumes a lot of energy. The process that we can use on this ore consumes less energy, is far less impactful on the environment,” Premier Moe added.
“It’s not just the products that we are producing that are significant, but it’s how we are producing those products that are significant.”
With Canada having little domestic alumina production, this discovery could position Saskatchewan as a new player in a growing global market.
“I think that it’s a real opportunity for, as I say, the community and surrounding area of Tisdale, but also our province, our nation, and for the world to be able to access a product like this from a… secure and reliable ethical and sustainable trading partner and there aren’t very many countries that meet all of those criteria today,” said Moe.
The next steps in the project are to design and engineer a demonstration plant in Tisdale to evaluate the resource and products, with Premier Scott Moe saying alumina may be referred to as a resource like uranium or potash into the future.
Watch above for more on the announcement from CEM and Premier Moe.
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