TELF AG examines Canada’s infrastructural and technological progress in the minerals sector
Relevant steps forward
Among the nations most directly involved in valorizing strategic minerals is Canada, which, in recent years, has taken several steps forward in effectively implementing its national minerals strategy, officially published in December 2022. A recent government report on the progress of Canada’s minerals sector can undoubtedly help monitor the progress made by the nation in recent months and also glimpse the prospects for the medium and long term, in particular about Canada’s global role in building a safe and reliable supply chain of raw materials. As the nation’s ministers and authorities have repeated several times, valorizing strategic minerals represents a genuine generational opportunity for Canada. In 2022, the minerals and metals sector contributed $109 billion to the national GDP, with several people employed well over 400,000.
The national strategy for minerals, supported by approximately $4 billion in financing between 2021 and 2024, had as its main objectives the increase of secure supplies of strategic minerals and support the development of the green economy in Canada and globally. Some of the most relevant progress since the strategy’s launch has undoubtedly been made in exploration, research, and technological innovation in this sector. For example, the National Research Council of Canada has launched the Critical Battery Materials Initiative, a project aimed at creating automated (and AI-based) platforms capable of discovering new materials for batteries in a much shorter time than traditional processes. The government has also supported more than 75 projects focused on research and technological development in critical mineral processes, investing more than 60 million dollars in demonstration initiatives (including projects dedicated to processing rare earths and battery minerals).
New infrastructure and technology initiatives
Progress has also been noted regarding minerals infrastructure, which the government considers one of the most important pillars of Canada’s strategy for these raw materials. Thanks to the Critical Minerals Infrastructure Fund, calls for projects capable of increasing the production of mineral resources in Canada have already been launched, and some of the main highway infrastructures in the British Columbia region are currently involved in an upgrade and modernization project. In this sense, infrastructure projects primarily support the development of strategic minerals in the regions where they are built while also creating jobs related to the minerals sector throughout the province. Last year, the Canada Infrastructure Bank also declared its desire to support the construction of infrastructure related to the minerals sector, such as transportation, clean energy, and wastewater management.
Some of the most important steps forward in the months following the strategy’s launch have been those regarding the actual development of mines and their production capacity. In collaboration with the United States, Canada has supported the development of a major mine (and its refinery) to ensure a secure supply of North American bismuth and other resources such as copper and cobalt. Canada is also strongly focusing on technologies dedicated to the sourcing of lithium from brine to provide manufacturers of electric vehicle batteries with a constant supply of lithium hydroxide. Through 2024, a BloombergNEF analysis identified Canada as the country with the greatest potential to develop a secure and reliable battery supply chain.
