Rare Earths meetings in Canada
I visited Canada in May 2016 to meet with some of the Canadian partners and collaborators of SoS RARE. In Montréal, I presented an invited talk about ongoing European rare earths research, including the work of SoS RARE, at a workshop on rare earths organised by the DIVEX network. The workshop was held at the Université de Montréal, which is sited on top of the alkaline igneous rocks of Mont Royal, part of the Monteregian Hills alkaline igneous province – a very appropriate location for a rare earths workshop! The workshop included a number of very interesting presentations; a second invited talk from George Simandl (BC Geological Survey) was followed by talks from a number of PhD students and post-docs involved in DIVEX research. These showcased a variety of recent advances made by study of the rare earth element deposits in Québec, including alkaline igneous, mafic layered intrusion and carbonatite-related deposits.
From Montréal I went on to Toronto, where I met representatives of the Canadian Rare Earths Network (CREEN). This was a great opportunity to learn about some of the cutting edge research being done in Canada on the metallurgy and processing of the rare earth elements. The SoS RARE project team will be continuing to develop our collaboration with CREEN and we hope to hold a joint conference session next year, focusing on the interface between mineralogy and metallurgy. Finally, before leaving Toronto, I was lucky enough to get a tour of the Jack Satterly Geochronology Laboratory and to discuss potential avenues for collaboration.
In all, my visit to Canada demonstrated that there are many opportunities for Canadian and European rare earth elements researchers to work together to deliver some excellent, applied science, and we will continue to build these links as part of SoS RARE.
Kathryn Goodenough 23rd May 2016
