The "firm commitments" came from undisclosed investors, with the funding to go towards the Nechalacho project in Canada that's currently under construction. 

Nechalacho in North West Territories involves mining and ore sorting and is targeted to provide the cash flow for a larger scale, longer life operation at the same site called Tardiff - which is pegged as a 5000t per annum rare earth oxide producer for 20 years from 2024. 

An offsite extraction plant is to be built in Saskatchewan. 

At the start of the current quarter Vital had $6.1 million in cash, with $8 million raised last October at 2c per share. 

Shares in Vital were down 5% to 7.6c in early trade, capitalising the company at $203 million.