SGS Lakefield Metallurgical Centre of Excellence celebrates 85th anniversary
SGS is celebrating the 85th anniversary of its Canadian Metallurgical Centre of Excellence in 2026, coinciding with what it says is a critical turning point in Canada’s mining industry.
With one of the world’s largest mining conference – Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) – kicking off in Toronto this weekend, experts from SGS say that ”critical minerals and rare earths are Canada’s 21st century gold rush”.
With the Canadian government and industry looking to team up to mine critical minerals and build downstream processing over the next decade, SGS says it is playing a key advisory role as it continues to stay at the forefront of mining industry trends while offering metallurgical consulting, innovation and expertise.
SGS’s Metallurgical Centre of Excellence is located in Lakefield, near Peterborough (Ontario). It has played an important role not only in the Canadian mining, but the global mining sector, since 1941, the company says. Niels Verbaan, Senior Technical Director at SGS in Lakefield, is one of the leading global experts when it comes to processing of critical minerals including rare earths. In June 2024, Verbaan was invited to the White House to help advise on strategies for how best to develop the US battery supply chain industry.
Verbaan says: “You turn on the news like CNN and there’s talk about a rare earth deal in Ukraine or here or there. There’s not a day goes by that people aren’t speaking about critical minerals and this will have huge benefits for Canada over the next decade.”
The lab has a long history helping mining companies unlock the value in their precious and base metal ores along with critical minerals projects worldwide, punching well above its weight in Canada and beyond. This was highlighted in 1997 when its testing was instrumental in helping uncover the Bre-X scandal, which led to important changes in the mining world.
Other notable technologies and process approaches that SGS in Lakefield is known for developing or advancing for the mining industry – mostly through flowsheet invention, pilot-plant proof and “bankable” scale-up work, include:
- SART process for cyanide recovery and to recycle it back into the leaching process’
- Hybrid BIOX® + POX flowsheet development and piloting for refractory gold;
- Gold leaching process development including several new gold leaching processes;
- REE processing pilot plant operations including unit operations such as flotation, acid baking, caustic cracking, rare earth separation and rare earth oxide production;
- Development and piloting demonstrating the reduction of high purity scandium oxide from low grade feed sources;
- Pilot-scale HPAL capability for nickel laterites (scale-up and de-risking);
- Process mineralogy workflow to diagnose gold recoveries and design circuits;
- Comminution/crushing/grinding characterisation for enhanced understanding of grinding and crushing properties and processes;
- Modern “risk reduction” and geometallurgy to fundamentally de-risk projects; and
- Deep-sea (polymetallic) nodule testing focused on de-risking and optimising onshore processing flowsheets that can convert nodule-derived intermediate products into battery-grade chemicals
The SGS team in Lakefield has completed more than 22,000 projects for the global mining industry. Many of the mining industry’s leading experts have either built their careers at SGS or have trusted SGS as a technical partner and engaged the team in Lakefield from early-stage metallurgical testing through flowsheet development, scale-up, and into production, it says.
Stephen Mackie, Senior Director, Metallurgy and Consulting at SGS in Lakefield, says: “SGS is recognised as a cornerstone of the global mining industry, because it uniquely combines deep metallurgical expertise, large-scale piloting capability and independent consulting under one roof. For decades, our Lakefield team has supported projects every step along the way and has helped transform complex ores into viable, profitable and sustainable operations. SGS’s Metallurgical Centre of Excellence is more than a laboratory; it’s a world-leading trusted technical partner, translating data into defensible, decision-ready insights that underpin feasibility studies, financing and long-term performance.”
Mackie added: “Having a globally recognised facility, located within the beauty of Canadian cottage country – that many people are now getting to know because of everything that is currently happening with critical minerals – it’s truly exciting. We look forward to what we can continue to offer as the needs of mining organisations and government continue to advance and expand.”
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