It's The Beginning Of The Massive Consolidation PhaseFound within the La Presse article and reposted by Atachetatuque over at ceoca.
Critical minerals The success of the battery sector “could be threatened” Canada currently lacks critical minerals to meet future demand from large battery factories, according to a government document that highlights major gaps in the supply chain. Tens of billions of dollars will need to be invested to open five times more mines than normal within 10 years, otherwise the success of battery factories “could be threatened”. Multinationals Volkswagen, Northvolt, Stellantis and LG “told us that they established themselves in Canada because of access to minerals and that it is unlikely that they will be able [to manufacture batteries] with a strategy that depends on the importation of minerals,” reads a government document that describes a meeting of a committee on clean growth attended last December by high-ranking officials from several federal ministries. “Without a secure supply of essential minerals, the success of electric vehicle battery factories could be threatened,” reads this analysis initially revealed by The Logic. However, Canada is currently in a delicate situation, to say the least. We learn that the quantity of critical minerals extracted from Canadian soils – including nickel, graphite and lithium – is far from being able to supply the battery sector: “Canada has less than 50% of the necessary mineral production and less than 25 % of intermediate production needed to supply four electric vehicle battery factories. » Catching up will have a cost. The analysis suggests that investments totaling $24.1 billion will be necessary “to meet 100% of the demand” for critical minerals from these factories and “make Canada self-sufficient” with regard to these elements. Without this production, battery factories will rely heavily on imports. Canada is in a time trial today. “Fifteen additional mines are scheduled to open over the next decade. […] The pace of opening new battery metal mines must quintuple by 2035 to fully support domestic battery production,” the document reads. A major challenge given that a mine normally takes 16 years to become operational. Contacted by La Presse, the office of the Minister of Natural Resources of Canada believes that the success of the sector is not threatened. “The Canadian mining industry is on an upward trajectory,” replied the ministry’s communications director, Joanna Sivasankaran, by email. She recalls that Ottawa is deploying measures to promote this sector such as investments in infrastructure, tax credits for exploration and “a plan to reduce regulatory red tape so that good projects are built more quickly”. Avoiding vulnerabilities In its Critical Minerals Strategy published in 2022, the government recalled the notable presence of these elements in the territory. This mining potential was then presented as a strategic advantage with regard to China, for example. It said: “Canada’s European allies have recently seen the cost of depending on countries with different values from ours for the supply of strategic products like oil and gas; and there is a strong desire to avoid these kinds of vulnerabilities in emerging markets such as critical minerals. » Since 2023, announcements in the sector have multiplied. A subsidiary of Volkswagen, a joint venture formed by Stellantis-LG Energy Solution and the manufacturer Honda have successively announced the construction of battery manufacturing plants in Ontario. For its part, the Swedish Northvolt chose the South Shore of Montreal to set up operations. These private investments will total more than 46 billion Canadian dollars, according to government documents consulted by La Presse. As part of the agreements with the first three factories, government assistance will be between 4.6 billion and 15 billion Canadian dollars for each factory, for a total of 32.8 billion Canadian dollars, of which a third of the cost will be supported by Ontario and Quebec. Several questions “The mineral supply chain for the battery sector is in its very early stages of deployment in North America,” wrote a spokesperson for Northvolt in Quebec, Emmanuelle Rouillard-Moreau, by email after being questioned about the challenge of supplying critical minerals: “Investments like the one we are deploying in Quebec can support and stimulate the development of this chain. » As for him, the specialist in energy materials at Polytechnique Montral, Gregory Patience, raises questions about the impact of this imbalance between mineral production and demand from future factories. First of all, there is this ability to open so many mines in such a short time. “Even if 15 new mines [of critical minerals] come into operation within 10 years, how will the battery factories be powered by then? They will have to import? » Mr. Patience recalls that several of the planned mines may not see the light of day: “It is not because there is a mining project that it will one day be active. It itself is in competition with other productions around the world. »