Chasing pucks may be our national sport, but we’re pretty good at chasing business opportunities too, and there are few sectors where we have had more success than in mining.
As powerful as mining has been in the economic history of Canada, what lies ahead is even more exciting. The world wants we have, and we have the know how, the skills and the ability to find it, develop it and bring it to markets around the world.
That’s why Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson’s announcement on Friday is such a powerful and timely signal.
The race is on to find the minerals and metals everyone needs. The imperative for many countries is to have more than one potential source of supply. Right now, China has a powerful position in respect of some products, but Canada has the potential to be an alternative supplier of choice.
Hodgson announced the first 26 new investments, partnerships and measures to unlock more than $6 billion of critical minerals projects needed by defence, clean energy and advanced manufacturing supply chains. These include projects involving scandium, graphite, rare earth elements, lithium, samarium and gadolinium, with a signal that more is to come involving more commodities still. Partnerships in these projects span many companies from around the world.
The signal this sends to the world couldn’t be more clear, more timely or more welcome. The Government of Canada is listening to what the world wants, working with companies to find the best ways to unlock value for Canada and create long-term well-paying jobs for Canadian workers, including Indigenous Canadians from coast to coast to coast.
The market for critical minerals runs to the hundreds of billions of dollars today and is growing fast. Canada’s expertise is known around the world. We have more than 4,000 companies in the sector and are home to about half of all the world’s publicly listed mining and exploration companies/. We produce more than 60 different minerals and metals, have access to abundant low carbon energy, and well educated and trained work force and have the best geoscience anywhere — a key reason we continue to top the world in mineral exploration spending.
We know how to do this. We needed more attention, policy support and pace. The world won’t wait for us, but with measures like those announced today, and we suspect more measures on November 4th, the rest of the world just might have to run harder to keep up with Canadians when it comes to this race.
Pierre Gratton, President and CEO Mining Association of Canada