With governments around the globe moving quickly to ensure they are not left behind in the great critical minerals race, Canada is stepping on the accelerator with its plans to develop a major home-grown renewable energy mining sector.
Having seen Australia steal a march on many of its mining rivals with billions in new government critical minerals support, the Canadian government recently announced a new investment commitment of more than C$344M toward its federal critical minerals strategy. That strategy is prioritizing the development of domestic supply chains for critical minerals, such as lithium, to further the country’s green transition and digital economy.
That new funding announcement is also part of the country’s larger C$3.8B investment package directed at critical minerals research and development.
“Critical minerals represent a generational economic opportunity for Canada,” Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources, Jonathan Wilkinson, said in March.
“Canada is building on its global leadership in the mining industry to seize this opportunity, and the federal government is all-in.”
In a keynote address at the recent Prospectors & Developers Assosciation of Canada (PDAC) event in Toronto, Minister Wilkinson stated that there is no global clean energy future without accelerated activity along the critical minerals value chain.
“Critical minerals are not just the building blocks of clean technology like solar panels and electric vehicle batteries — they are a key ingredient for creating middle-class jobs and growing a strong, globally competitive Canadian economy.”
The minister said the move toward a global net-zero economy is generating a significant increase in demand for critical minerals and the clean technologies they enable around the world, creating a generational opportunity for Canadian workers and Canadian businesses.
“Concurrent geopolitical dynamics have caused like-minded countries to reflect on the need to have stable and secure supplies of these resources and technologies — produced in a way that is compatible with science-driven climate and nature goals and in meaningful consultation and partnership with Indigenous peoples.”
- Over the course of four days, while attending PDAC, Minister Wilkinson announced:
- Over C$344M for five new programmes and initiatives under the Canadian Critical Minerals Strategy and over C$14M for six projects under the Critical Minerals Research, Development, and Demonstration programme
- Over C$700,000 in funding to the British Columbia (BC) First Nations Energy and Mining Council through the Indigenous Natural Resource Partnerships programme for its critical minerals literacy project.
- An update on federal initiatives to improve regulatory processes for major projects in order to establish Canada as the global supplier of choice for clean energy in a net-zero world.
- A deepening collaboration between Canada and the United Kingdom on the critical minerals supply chain through a joint statement.
While at PDAC, Minister Wilkinson also reportedly met with Japanese battery supply chain companies to promote investments in Canada.
In his foreword, Minister Wilkinson said financial markets around the world are increasingly pricing climate risk into investment decisions.
He noted that smart money is flowing away from assets that are not compatible with a transition to a net-zero world and toward opportunities that are.
“Just as any successful business must be capable of interpreting and reacting to changes in the business environment, countries must also be capable of thoughtful response and action to sustain and enhance their level of prosperity,” he wrote.
“As the world moves toward a lower-carbon economy, a key question on which we must collectively focus is how to build on Canada’s comparative advantages in a manner that will create jobs, economic opportunity, and prosperity.”
The minister noted that concurrently, geopolitical dynamics and skyrocketing demand have strained value chains, which are essential to the global energy transition.
“Canada’s European allies have recently experienced the consequences of dependence upon non-like-minded countries for strategic commodities such as oil and gas, and there is a strong desire to avoid similar vulnerabilities in emerging markets such as critical minerals.
“Critical minerals present a generational opportunity for Canada in many areas: exploration, extraction, processing, downstream product manufacturing, and recycling. This federal government is committed to seizing this opportunity in a way that benefits every region across the country.
“Critical minerals are the building blocks for the green and digital economy. There is no energy transition without critical minerals: no batteries, no electric cars, no wind turbines, and no solar panels. The sun provides raw energy, but electricity flows through copper. Wind turbines need manganese, platinum, and rare earth magnets. Nuclear power requires uranium. Electric vehicles require batteries made with lithium, cobalt, nickel, and magnets. Indium and tellurium are integral to solar panel manufacturing.
“It is therefore paramount for countries around the world to establish and maintain resilient critical minerals value chains that adhere to the highest ESG standards. It is also important that we partner with Indigenous peoples — including ensuring that long-term benefits flow to Indigenous communities.”
The minister added that Canada is in the extremely fortunate position of possessing significant amounts of many of the world’s most critical minerals as well as the workers, businesses, and communities that know how to scale up our exploration, extraction, processing, manufacturing, and recycling of those minerals.”
Minister Wilkinson’s participation at PDAC built upon his visit in early March to Thunder Bay and Sudbury, Ontario, where he engaged with students at Lakehead University on the role of research and innovation in advancing sustainable economic development priorities.
He met with representatives of the Thunder Bay and Sudbury chambers of commerce, chaired a roundtable with mining stakeholders on net-zero growth opportunities through critical minerals, announced a C$100,000 partnership with Cambrian College to install EV chargers under the Zero-Emission Vehicle Infrastructure Programme, and announced a C$35M investment to deploy a combined heat and power facility using locally sourced wood waste to produce energy for Whitesand First Nation and the communities of Armstrong and Collins, Ontario.
S&P Global
Meanwhile, global financial information and analytics firm, S&P Global, noted that Canada’s continued push for critical minerals development could alleviate concerns among its mining industry regarding more limited investment opportunities.
The concerns are rooted in a federal policy launched in 2022 to more closely scrutinize investments from foreign state-owned enterprises. Once the policy was enacted, Canada ordered three Chinese companies to divest their respective stakes in Canadian companies with lithium projects.
Wilkinson’s announcement further represents Canada’s effort to match federal funding opportunities the US now provides to its own domestic industries through the Inflation Reduction Act.
