That's why we acted as representatives and portfolio holders. That's why we got our bindles ready to tour the federal departments. I think we've met with almost all of them. Overall, they found the initiative interesting and redirected us to various programs.
Given the nature of critical minerals, this is a good time to present our project. It can disappear quickly.
That was the case with lithium, for example. About four years ago, that was the flavour of the month. I think everyone would agree with that. Significant investments were made, but a fairly significant drop in prices means that the sector now sort of finds itself on its back, if I may put it that way.
That sparked the idea of a consortium, which would enable us to act together. Of course, that requires a lot of investment. Again, metallurgical studies are under way, particularly at Commerce Resources. We'll be making progress on that front as well. Everyone with rare earth projects will have to conduct studies on processes, so we're all going to be knocking on the same doors again to get the same money from the same envelope.
Our project is innovative. It's based on outside-the-box thinking, which we should all be doing collectively as well. That's why we've approached the various departments to see if there's a way to create a portfolio dedicated to the consortium to encompass all innovation, research and development with the pilot testing.
That would then enable us to get together and be able to move forward.