What sets the Canadian mining industry apart from other jurisdictions?
One of the major reasons Canada is viewed as a more desirable jurisdiction globally relates to the history and position of mining in the country.
Canada has one of the most entrenched mining industries and, to this day, mining remains an important industry for the country, and perhaps more importantly, still a prominent industry across all the provinces and territories (compared to other countries where mining is often relegated to the more remote regions, if at all). As a result, Canada enjoys one of the most stable legal and taxation structures when compared globally.
What are your criteria for attractive investment opportunities?
When assessing exploration or mining investment opportunities, we tend to focus on three main areas: project, people, and viability.
In terms of the project, we assess the basic parameters of the deposit (grade, size, location, depth to mineralization, continuity, etc), either in terms of the potential to discover something material, and/or to develop it.
In terms of the people, we are more interested in management teams with proven experience – those who can focus on exploration for earlier staged projects, to management with proven operating experience for more advanced projects looking to become producers.
Arguably more important for us is when management clearly identifies their own strengths and weaknesses, and is willing to seek out the requisite management skills when they are needed. For example, when exploration-focused management knows when to step aside and bring on management or a board with mine building or operating experience.
In terms of viability, we are lumping together a number of project-specific issues that we believe are required for successful development. These include positive economics, achievable infrastructure, and a social license to develop and operate.
Where do you see Canadian companies and projects sitting with regards to economic, social, and governance (ESG) matters?
In our view, Canadian companies and projects are ahead of many countries with respect to ESG.
We believe Canadian projects have long been subjected to environmental and social (E&S) oversight, as environmental protection and social license are well integrated into the mindset of the mining industry.
As a result, we believe most Canadian companies haven’t had to make many changes to their E&S efforts, but just implement some changes with respect to the governance aspect. I think we’ve seen significant change over the past few years as Canadian companies have installed more diverse boards and clarified roles of their board members.
On the other hand, we believe several other jurisdictions with weak ESG have had to attack all three areas in terms of improving ESG.
Do current and pending Canadian projects make the country more competitive in the global economy with regards to the energy transition? Do you see an increased focus on this front?
In our view, our projects have the opportunity of making Canada more competitive in the global economy, primarily as a result that most areas of Canada can call on renewable energy sources for future mining operations. We believe Canadian projects are in a strong position to increase reliance on electrification, implement robotics, and AI, as well as adopt other “higher” technological aspects of mining and mineral processing. The recent push for “Net Zero Impact”, we believe, is likely more achievable for Canadian projects than in other jurisdictions.
Exploration is the key to driving the energy transition. Are there interesting Canadian projects coming up in the pipeline? Which commodities are you seeing with the most potential now?
Certainly Canada has a number of projects that can contribute positively to the energy transition. We would include commodities/companies/ projects such as: lithium (Critical Elements’ (TSXV: CRE) Rose Lithium-Tantalum project in Quebec); copper (there are several early stage copper exploration projects in British Columbia), and PGMs (Clean Air Metals’ (TSXV: AIR) Escape/Current Lake project in Ontario).
