Far North Rare Earth Deposit Looking Promising

Far North Rare Earth Deposit Looking Promising

Thursday, January 22, 2004 at 15:12

A small lake just northeast of Uranium City continues to draw heavy attention from a mining group in Saskatoon.

Officials with Great Western Minerals Group say rare earth elements are the reason behind their focus

on Hoidas Lake, as the ground in the area is full of the precious materials.

Company president Gary Billingsley says batteries, fuel cells and many other important industrial parts are built out of rare earth elements and that’s why it’s so important to develop sites where they are found.

He says world demand for the minerals is growing by leaps and bounds.

Billingsley also says the potential for value-added spin-offs to business groups in the North is significant.

Billingsley says a feasibility study is currently being done on the area to determine if it can be mined.

After that, an environmental impact statement would have to be cleared before any development could begin.