March 11, 2021 Ottawa, Ontario Natural Resources Canada
Global demand for critical minerals is increasing to support the transition to a low emissions global economy. Canada can leverage its mining and processing expertise and world leading environmental, social and governance credentials, and become the global supplier of choice for clean and advanced technologies.
Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources, the Honourable Seamus O’Regan Jr., today announced the release of a Canadian critical minerals list during the virtual Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada’s (PDAC) 2021 Convention.
The list includes 31 minerals considered critical for the sustainable economic success of Canada and our allies—minerals that can be produced in Canada, are essential to domestic industry and security and have the potential to support secure and resilient supply chains to meet global demand.
The critical minerals list is a result of collaboration with other federal departments, exploration, mining and manufacturing industries, and extensive consultation with the provinces and territories over a period of five months. The list prioritizes building an industrial base for the low-carbon, digitized economy, and provides greater certainty and predictability to industry, trading partners and investors on what Canada has to offer.
For example, Canada is the only Western nation that has an abundance of cobalt, graphite, lithium and nickel, essential to creating the batteries and electric vehicles of the future.
And there are other areas where Canada’s minerals can play an important role in global markets, through its ‘mines to mobility’ approach. Canada is the world’s second largest producer of niobium, an important metal for the aerospace industry, and the fourth largest producer of indium, a key input in semi-conductors, as well as many of the materials needed for advanced vehicle manufacturing.
As a leading mining nation backed by a rich endowment of resources, supported by free markets, political stability and preferred access to global markets, will lead in supplying the world with products made from critical minerals, and power the economy of the future.