Rosatom itself will abandon Estonia: processing of four rare earths will be done in Russia

The Russian state corporation announced plans to build a new separation complex, which will separate four rare earth metals. Thus in Russia itself will be able to refuse to supply the Estonian company Silmet. She became famous when The EU has not imposed sanctions on the Russian supplier, as the company is the largest commercial enterprise for processing rare earths. But they promised to refuse the services of Rosatom.

"The Solikamsk magnesium plant will receive more rare earth elements," Rosatom reports.

They clarified that today niobium, tantalum and titanium are isolated from loparite concentrate at the SMZ, while other significant rare earth metals, lanthanides, remain in the collective concentrate.

"Glavgosexpertiza has approved the construction of a new separation complex, which will receive up to 2.5 thousand tons of new finished products, including the most popular REM of the magnetic group (neodymium and praseodymium) and traditional REM of the light group (lanthanum and cerium)," the state corporation said.

The technology for the new production is already ready and construction of the first facility — a warehouse for temporary storage of materials and equipment - will begin in the coming days, Rosatom added.

While the concentrate for the production of neodymium, praseodymium, lanthanum and cerium is supplied to the Estonian company Silmet by Canadian Neo Performance Materials. This company is the largest commercial processor of rare earth metals in Europe and historically Russian raw materials provided up to 70% of Silmet's needs. The entire technological chain of the plant with a capacity of up to 3,200 tons per year is configured for it.

Silmet became known in the fall, when the Solikamsk Magnesium Plant (SMZ) and its directors were removed from the new planned EU sanctions package in order not to disrupt the work of such a strategic enterprise as Silmet. At the same time, the only commercial plant in the European Union for processing rare earth metals promises to abandon Russian products. Alternative supplies are sought all over the world. Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsakhkna stated that without supplies from Russia's EU technology companies, including the defense industry, will now find themselves in a difficult position.

It is obvious that Rosatom's own processing will bring not only moral satisfaction. The cost of pure separated oxides is several times higher than the price of the collective concentrate. The corporation will be able to sell not a "mixture", but high-tech metals for electronics, space and the automotive industry. Russia itself is actively developing projects for the production of permanent magnets and electric motors. For example, Rosatom is building gigafactories for the production of lithium-ion batteries and components for electric vehicles. Thus, the SMZ will be able to provide them with its own raw materials, eliminating the cost of expensive imports.