Natural Resources committee  [Inaudible—Editor]

Natural Resources committee  Right now the technology to separate the rare earth elements exists in China. The Chinese have worked on it for a very long time, and they have the know-how. It is not something that we can't do here in Canada as well, but it is a matter of investing in research and technology, the tweaking that is necessary on the chemistry, to be able to do this.

Natural Resources committee  Vlad is good.

Natural Resources committee  I can answer like this. What we know we don't have is the type of mineral deposits that China has. We know that because these types of deposits develop only in subtropic areas around the world. I know that there are European companies looking at identifying deposits around the world that are similar to China's.

Natural Resources committee  But we may have other untapped resources around the country that would increase our current knowledge on how much we can produce.

Natural Resources committee  From my limited exposure, first they initiated a study that resulted in prioritizing what the most critical metals are to ensure an adequate supply to grow the energy sector in the United States into the green era, low carbon emissions. This is when the rare earth elements were identified, particularly the heavy rare earth elements, which possess the higher risk, were identified as the most critical to supplying the future development of green energy technology.

Natural Resources committee  Critical Materials Institute.

Natural Resources committee  First of all, cooperation already exists in the form of the exchange of technological ideas and each party being aware, more or less, of what the other party is doing. What is missing, in my mind, is an investment that will enable Canada to develop its own in-house technology that is adapted to the types of minerals we have here in Canada because every location has different needs.

Natural Resources committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. First of all, thorium is not an issue for all Canadian development. Thorium is not an element that shows up necessarily with every single rare earth mineral deposit. It occurs with some, not with others. I am personally not aware of any systematic research that has been done to address the thorium stability issue in tailings.

Natural Resources committee  Sure. The difference among the companies is due to the fact that each one is dealing with a different mineral deposit. So the front end is different for every company; that is, how you do the chemistry to put these rare earth elements into the solution. But once you put them into the solution through the so-called leaching process, then the separation is common for all these companies.

Natural Resources committee  It's unfortunate that Ian London is not with us today to speak about that, because he has been the workforce in bringing CREEN members together. CREEN does have a number of companies. Not every company but at least the companies that are at the most advanced production stage are members of CREEN, and there have been coordinating discussions.

Natural Resources committee  I just wanted to add, as mentioned by Ms. Luisa, $120 million has been invested by the Department of Energy in the United States to create the Critical Materials Institute. I'm aware of something similar, although I don't know the exact magnitude of funding, in the European Union.

Natural Resources committee  First of all, thank you for the opportunity and the privilege to be here with you to present a few things about the academic and research community in the country. I would like to emphasize that chemistry, by means of hydrometallurgical technology, is key to the processing and separation of rare earths.

Natural Resources committee  Yes, but I think Mr. Wilson is next.