Critical Minerals Report – October 2024 News Roundup
Canada Invests in Critical Minerals Sector at the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development Conference on Mining in Sudbury
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. As demand for critical minerals around the world continues to surge with the increased adoption of clean technologies, Canadian workers and businesses have a generational opportunity to be global leaders and suppliers of critical minerals.
The Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, announced over $5.1 million in funding for 16 projects in the critical minerals sector, as part of the Canadian Critical Minerals Strategy (CCMS), to position Canada as the reliable supplier of choice the world is looking for. This funding is provided through two key programs to increase the supply of responsibly sourced critical minerals and support the development of domestic and global value chains for the green and digital economy. This investment includes:
- Critical Minerals Geoscience Data Initiative (CMGD): over $4.1 million is provided to support 10 projects to enhance access to important data and generate new insights on the geological potential of critical mineral sources.
- Global Partnerships Initiative (GPI): close to $1 million is provided to support six projects that will reinforce Canada’s growing number of bilateral commitments and engagements in the critical minerals space.
Across Canada, clean energy solutions are providing enormous economic opportunity. The critical minerals sector is already highly valuable to the Canadian economy. In 2022, the minerals and metals sector directly employed 420,000 people and contributed $109 billion to Canada’s total gross domestic product (GDP). Since 2020, automotive and battery manufacturers have announced investments of over $40 billion in electric vehicle production and the battery supply chain. With government support and demand for critical minerals expected to double by 2024, these sectors will only grow. These investments will help deliver jobs and economic opportunities for communities and businesses across the country.
Canada to Unlock Critical Minerals Development in Northern Ontario with New Funding
Investments in critical minerals infrastructure are essential to enable Canada to seize the enormous economic opportunity the low-carbon economy presents and to capitalize on our rich mineral resources. Canada is well positioned to be a global leader and a first-class producer of a wide variety of critical minerals that are essential to power the clean economy — including lithium and copper — and, in turn, create good jobs and support economic opportunities across critical mineral value chains — from mining to processing, manufacturing and recycling.
The Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, along with the Honourable Patty Hajdu, Minister of Indigenous Services and the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario and the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario, and Marcus Powlowski, Member of Parliament for Thunder Bay, announced up to $13.8 million in funding, pending final due diligence from Natural Resources Canada, for five critical minerals infrastructure developments in Northwestern Ontario. This funding would be provided through the Critical Minerals Infrastructure Fund (CMIF).
This investment would include:
- $5.5 million to Green TM Resources Canada Ltd. to upgrade 56 kilometres of existing roads and replace three bridges to support the development of a lithium mine near Armstrong, Ontario, and bypass residential communities.
- $1.4 million to Rock Tech Lithium Inc. to upgrade and extend a 10-kilometre access road north of Nipigon, Ontario, that would enable the transportation of lithium from its Georgia Lake Project mine site, an open pit and underground mine.
- $6.1 million to Frontier Lithium Inc. to advance Indigenous engagement and engineering for a 56- kilometre all-season road and electricity infrastructure for the Pakeagama (PAK) Lithium Project in Northwestern Ontario.
- $771,100 to Generation PGM Inc. to undertake an engineering and design work for a five-kilometre access road, as well as feasibility studies for additional road and rail links to support the movement of copper concentrates from its Marathon Project to smelters and refiners.
The CMIF is a key program under the Canadian Critical Minerals Strategy to address infrastructure gaps, enable critical minerals production and connect resources to markets through various clean energy, electrification and transportation infrastructure projects. Additional funding decisions for projects under the CMIF to further critical minerals infrastructure development are expected in the coming months.
These new critical minerals projects, alongside investments in clean energy and nuclear power that were announced earlier this year, are part of the Government of Canada’s partnership with Ontario through the Regional Energy and Resource Tables (Regional Tables). Ontario joined the Regional Tables process in 2022 as a way for the two levels of government to work closer together, and with Indigenous partners, to identify shared opportunities to seize the tremendous opportunities of the low-carbon economy. To get there, Canada and Ontario — in collaboration with Indigenous partners and with the input of key stakeholders — are finalizing a collaboration framework that will lay out joint actions that can be taken in the short and medium term to build tomorrow’s low-carbon economy. The collaboration framework will be released before the end of this year.
Critical minerals are essential components in products used for clean energy technologies such as electric vehicles, electrical transmission lines and batteries. Canada’s mining sector provides many of the building blocks of clean technologies, including lithium and copper, needed to fight climate change and build a clean economy.
Across the country, clean energy solutions are providing enormous economic opportunity for Canada. The critical mineral sector is already highly valuable to our economy. In 2022, the minerals and metals sector directly employed 420,000 people and contributed $109 billion of Canada’s total gross domestic product (GDP). Since 2020, automotive and battery manufacturers have announced investments of over $40 billion in electric vehicle production and the battery supply chain. With government support and with demand for critical minerals expected to double by 2024, these sectors will only grow.
Government of Canada Funding Study to Improve Wellbeing in Mining Communities in Northern Ontario
Viviane Lapointe, Member of Parliament for Sudbury, and Marc G. Serré, Member of Parliament for Nickel Belt and Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministers of Energy and Natural Resources and Official Languages, announced that the Government of Canada is providing the City of Greater Sudbury with $150,000 in funding for a fact-finding mission and case study project aimed at improving wellbeing in mining communities in Northern Ontario. The announcement was made on behalf of the Honourable Patty Hajdu, Minister to Indigenous Services and Minister responsible for FedNor.
Funded through the Northern Ontario Development Program, the report adds to six previous case studies completed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) as part of its Mining Regions and Cities Initiative. The study will include a review of the regulatory and policy environment for mining and related industries, with the goal of making recommendations for consideration by the federal and provincial governments.
To achieve this the OECD, in cooperation with Northern Ontario stakeholders, will explore the impact of the mining sector on economic, social and environmental wellbeing in Northern Ontario. This includes looking at its contribution to regional development and assessing the progress of regional strategies and policies on improving the business environment for mining in Northern Ontario. Additionally, the fact-finding mission will create opportunities for knowledge exchange and learning among communities and the private sector.
Supporting Critical Minerals Development in Northern Ontario
The Government of Canada is working to seize the generational opportunity presented by critical minerals while ensuring that Indigenous Peoples and communities share in those benefits. Canada is well positioned to be a global leader and first-class producer of a wide variety of critical minerals that are essential to power the clean economy — including nickel and copper — and, in turn, create good jobs and support economic opportunities across critical mineral value chains — from mining to processing, manufacturing and recycling.
The Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Canada’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, announced funding to support the further development of critical minerals in Sudbury and the surrounding region.
Minister Wilkinson announced up to $8.4 million in conditionally approved funding provided through the Critical Minerals Infrastructure Fund (CMIF), pending final due diligence from Natural Resources Canada, for five critical mineral infrastructure development projects in the Sudbury and Timmins regions. This investment would include:
- Up to $6.8 million for the Crawford Nickel Sulphide Project to inform the mine’s electrification and connection to the Ontario electricity grid. This includes:
- Up to $2.4 million for Transmission Infrastructure Partnerships 1 Limited to advance a transmission line connecting the Crawford Nickel Sulphide Project to the Ontario power grid.
- Up to $4.4 million for Canada Nickel Company Ltd. to conduct studies to inform the Crawford Nickel Sulphide Project’s electrification plan. When in production, the Project is expected to create over 1,500 high-paying jobs, according to Canada Nickel, and its electrification will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 60 percent compared with diesel-powered operations.
- Up to $1.6 million for Magna Mining Inc. to support pre-construction activities to help power the Shakespeare and Crean Hill mines with clean electricity and connect the Shakespeare mine to the Ontario highway system. These mines will produce nickel and copper and help meet demand for these critical minerals as demand for use in clean technologies increases. The Crean Hill project is restarting an existing mine to meet this demand.
Also, with $2.7 million from Natural Resources Canada, Giyak Mishkawzid Shkagmikwe Inc. (GMS) and Taighwenini Technical Services Corporation (TTS), the economic development corporations of Atikameksheng Anishnawbek and Wahnapitae First Nation respectively, will purchase two production mining drills. These drills will be leased out to support First Nations training opportunities, wealth generation and participation in the clean economy. This purchase will help Indigenous partners participate in the revitalization at Vale’s Stobie mine, which is a nearly $1-billion joint project of Vale, Thiess, United Steel Workers and local First Nations, to produce more nickel and copper. The historic Stobie Pit, which ceased operations in 2017 after 100 years, will be restarted to continue providing good jobs for the people of Sudbury, and production is expected to ramp up in the coming years.
Minister Wilkinson made the announcement while visiting the Vale Stobie mine site in Sudbury. The Minister was in Sudbury to participate in the Conference of Mining Regions and Cities hosted by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Critical minerals are essential components in products used for clean energy technologies such as electric vehicles, electrical transmission lines and batteries. Canada’s mining sector provides many of the building blocks of clean technologies, including nickel and copper, needed to fight climate change and build a clean economy.
Across the country, clean energy solutions are providing enormous economic opportunity for Canada. The critical mineral sector is already highly valuable to our economy. In 2022, the minerals and metals sector directly employed 420,000 people and contributed $109 billion of Canada’s total gross domestic product (GDP). Since 2020, automotive and battery manufacturers have announced investments of over $40 billion in electric vehicle production and the battery supply chain. With government support and with demand for critical minerals expected to double by 2024, these sectors will only grow. These investments in mining and critical minerals will help deliver jobs and economic opportunities for Northern Ontario, along with Indigenous partners and communities.
Joint Statement on Critical Minerals and Critical Raw Materials Cooperation
On the margins of the G7 Ministerial Meeting on Industry and Technological Innovation, chaired by Minister Urso and attended virtually by Minister Champagne, Canada and Italy released the following Statement of Intent for Canada and Italy to deepen collaboration on critical minerals and critical raw materials:
With the adoption of the Italy-Canada Roadmap for Enhanced Cooperation on the margins of the G7 Summit in June and Canada’s ongoing work under the 2022 Canadian Critical Minerals Strategy, Italy and Canada agreed to strengthen collaboration on energy security and sustainability. We have committed to regular engagement on these issues in the form of an Energy Dialogue, focused on critical minerals, the energy transition, sustainable fuels, energy storage solutions and enabling technologies, and advanced nuclear reactors and fusion research.
Canada and Italy recognize the importance of international partnerships to make critical minerals and critical raw materials supply chains more diversified, transparent, resilient, responsible, circular, resource efficient, and sustainable. Canada and Italy seek to enhance cooperation in this domain through the promotion of trade and investment, exchanges of policies, regulations, best practices, technical and ESG standards.
Canada and Italy will advance this cooperation through the following areas of work:
- Strengthening Supply Chains: Promote critical mineral value chain trade and investment opportunities in Canada and Italy through government efforts to facilitate B2B matchmaking and Canada-Italy co-investments in projects.
- International Collaboration & Multilateral Engagement: Coordinate participation through leading international fora addressing critical mineral supply chains security and resiliency, including but not limited to the Minerals Security Partnership, the International Energy Agency, the G7, the Conference on Critical Materials and Minerals and through the Sustainable Critical Minerals Alliance.
- Research and Innovation: Discuss opportunities for joint research through Horizon Europe, which Canada joined in July 2024. Italy and Canada will work jointly to improve recycling of critical minerals and critical raw materials.
- Mapping and exploration: Share best practices on respective exploration plans and explore opportunities for collaboration between the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA) and the Geological Survey of Canada.
We have committed to regular engagement on these issues through the Energy Dialogue, to be launched by Canada’s Minister for Energy and Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson and Italy’s Minister of the Environment and Energy Security Gilberto Pichetto Fratin in the coming months. Our Statement of Intent demonstrates Canada and Italy’s strong partnership, and we hope that it will bring many opportunities to continue building on our longstanding bilateral relationship.
Shklanka Gift to Advance Critical Minerals Research at USask
University of Saskatchewan (USask) alumni Dr. Roman Shklanka (BA’51, BComm’53, MA’57) and PhD’63 from Stanford University and Patricia Shklanka (BSc’58) have generously donated $3 million to create the Shklanka Chair in Precambrian Critical Minerals Systems in the Department of Geological Sciences in the College of Arts and Science.
The funding will support an outstanding scholar who will explore fundamental and applied aspects of critical minerals systems, including ore-forming processes and metal-mineral associations. The chairholder will lead critical research, mentor students, and help to build the future workforce in this emerging field.
“We are grateful for the Shklankas’ extraordinary generosity and support for this chair position,” said USask President and Vice-Chancellor Peter Stoicheff. “Their gift will help position USask as a leader in critical minerals research and support Saskatchewan’s Critical Minerals Strategy, which aims to double the production of critical minerals by 2030.”
Shklanka’s international career as a geologist and mineral explorationist spanned 45 years in the mining industry, and he was inducted into the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame in 2009. Patricia and Roman have a long history in Saskatchewan, with the couple having met in the province decades ago. They now reside in Vancouver, B.C.
“USask has played such a pivotal role in our lives, both personally and professionally,” said Roman. “We are proud to give back to the university and province where it all began for us, and we hope this gift will inspire students to explore and excel in the dynamic field of critical minerals research.”
“Roman and I hold a special place in our hearts for the University of Saskatchewan,” said Patricia. “Where we not only received a world-class education, but also gained valuable skills and a strong work ethic. We hope that this gift will inspire students to pursue their passions in geological sciences and create their own fond memories of USask.”
The chair position will be based in the Department of Geological Sciences in the College of Arts and Science and will provide a pathway for significant developments in the study of critical minerals systems in the Precambrian era.
“The Shklanka Chair will play an important role in mentoring the next generation of USask students who will lead in building the provincial and national workforce in the field of critical minerals systems,” said Dr. Brooke Milne (PhD), dean of the College of Arts and Science at USask. “Thanks to the support of Roman and Patricia Shklanka, our graduates will make groundbreaking contributions to the creation of a greener economy.”
The Shklankas’ gift will support USask’s Be What the World Needs campaign – a $500 million comprehensive campaign to support the university in the areas of critical research, student success, Indigenous achievement, and visionary spaces.
China’s Critical Minerals Dominance ‘Material Risk’ to Natural Security, Teck Resources CEO Warns
Teck Resources Ltd. chief executive Jonathan Price is sounding the alarm over China’s control of the critical minerals sector, warning that North America needs to invest more to catch up.
“China controls in the range of 40 to over 90 per cent of global processing capacity for many critical minerals, from copper to cobalt,” Price said during an event hosted by the Business Council of Canada and the American Chamber of Commerce in Canada in Ottawa Thursday. “With the increasing necessity of metals, it is clear that diversifying supply chains is now critical to both our economy and national security.”
The federal government estimates Canada is host to 34 critical minerals and metals, including copper, nickel, cobalt and lithium. These minerals are used in a wide variety of products including cellphones, clean energy and defence technologies. Demand for them has only increased in recent years. “According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the required global investment in mining between now and 2040 could be as high as over $1 trillion — particularly if we want to meet our net-zero and energy security ambitions,” Price said.
But Teck’s chief executive said there are challenges to growth, with the regulatory process being one of the biggest deterrents to investment in mining in Canada and the United States.
Vancouver-based Teck, which recently divested its steelmaking coal business to the Swiss international commodity firm Glencore plc, owns several mining operations in North America, including the Red Dog mine in Alaska — the largest zinc mine in the world — and the Highland Valley Copper mine in British Columbia, Canada’s largest copper mine.
Canada and Australia have been leading the way in investing in mineral exploration in recent years, according to the IEA. Price said Canada’s commitment to spend $4 billion over eight years to support critical mineral development was a positive, but noted that China spent $20 billion on mining and minerals in 2023 alone, mostly to access critical minerals abroad. Canada has undertaken a consultation process on the possible implementation of tariffs on a select number of critical mineral imports from China. Ottawa has already slapped a 25 per-cent tariff on Chinese aluminum and steel imports, in line with the United States.
Price was joined by U.S. Ambassador to Canada David Cohen, who said securing a strong critical minerals supply chain will not be dependent on a government solution, but through strong investment from the private sector. “For too many people, the solution to every problem is government. Government is not going to solve this problem,” Cohen said. “At the end of the day, the way we’re going to break the control of China over mining, processing and refining is going to be private sector investment.” Cohen noted one of the challenges he hears a lot about when it comes to mining investment in Canada is the lack of cooperation and jurisdictional fighting between the provinces and the federal government. “That is not a productive exercise for easing the investment climate and furthering the growth and development of a critical minerals supply chain,” he said.
Cohen and Price both agreed that the permitting process needed to be more efficient, with Cohen noting that a more aligned regulatory process between the U.S. and Canada would be helpful for mining development. “We need to do it faster,” Price said. “That does not mean lowering the social and environmental standards that are essential to creating partnerships with communities and Indigenous Peoples and enabling our industry to grow and operate.”