Critical minerals demand will boost Canadian mining
Friday, June 11, 2021
Significance
Although low commodity prices deterred investment in recent years, this is changing as the market rallies. The creation of a regional electric vehicle (EV) supply chain straddling the Canada-US border has the potential to transform the Canadian mining sector while loosening China’s grip on the minerals used in high-performance batteries.
Impacts
- Canada is the world’s eighth-largest cobalt producer and has significant copper, graphite and rare earth deposits.
- Fortune Minerals, which is developing a cobalt mine in Northwest Territories, has held funding talks with the US Export/Import Bank.
- First Cobalt is building North America’s only cobalt refinery to give battery makers an alternative source to the DRC.
- Several of the country’s mines are using cutting-edge technologies to reduce their carbon emissions.