{"id":411309,"date":"2025-09-09T20:19:17","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T20:19:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/411309\/"},"modified":"2025-09-09T20:19:17","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T20:19:17","slug":"can-canada-challenge-chinas-stranglehold-on-critical-minerals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/411309\/","title":{"rendered":"Can Canada challenge China\u2019s stranglehold on critical minerals?"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article is an on-site version of our Energy Source newsletter.\u00a0Premium subscribers can sign up here<\/a> to get the newsletter delivered every Tuesday and Thursday. Standard subscribers can upgrade to Premium here<\/a>, or explore<\/a> all FT newsletters<\/p>\n

Hello and welcome to Energy Source, coming to you today from New York and Toronto.<\/p>\n

The decision by Opec+ to continue boosting oil output at the weekend despite fears of a looming global supply glut has ignited a \u201cflashing red warning light\u201d<\/a> across the oil industry. <\/p>\n

ConocoPhillips and Chevron have made deep cuts, outlining plans to shed up to a quarter and a fifth of their workforces, respectively. My FT colleague Malcolm Moore and I have run the numbers on the affect of falling oil prices on the industry, including a 4.3 per cent drop in capital expenditure this year and lower US production.<\/p>\n

The trajectory of oil prices could depend on whether the US and EU agree to increase sanctions on Russia over its refusal to agree a ceasefire and work towards a peace deal with Ukraine. In this exclusive interview<\/a>, Chris Wright, the US energy secretary, calls on EU states to stop buying Russian fossil fuels if they want Donald Trump to tighten sanctions on Vladimir Putin\u2019s \u201cwar machine\u201d.<\/p>\n

Our main item today is from Ilya Gridneff in Toronto, who reports on Canada\u2019s ambitions to use its rare earth resources to challenge China\u2019s dominance of critical minerals. <\/p>\n

Thanks for reading, Jamie <\/p>\n

What\u2019s missing from Canada\u2019s critical minerals push<\/p>\n

Canada is positioning itself as a strategic counterweight to China\u2019s dominance of rare earths and critical minerals. But the Canadian mining sector needs more investment to become an alternative supplier of the materials essential for the energy transition, industry experts say.<\/p>\n

Canada<\/a> is a mining nation \u2014 the Toronto Stock Exchange and TSX Venture Exchange list more than 1,000 mining companies producing a range of commodities such as potash, gold and copper. <\/p>\n

It also has some of the largest known reserves of rare earths<\/a>, estimated at more than 15.2mn tonnes of rare earth oxides in 2023. <\/p>\n

But China controls about 60 per cent of the world\u2019s rare earth mining production and close to 90 per cent of processing and refining, according to the International Energy Agency.<\/p>\n

Critical minerals have been a central focus of US President Donald Trump, who issued an executive order<\/a> in March this year to \u201ctake immediate action to facilitate domestic mineral production to the maximum possible extent\u201d. <\/p>\n

Ian London, executive director of the Canadian Critical Minerals and Materials Alliance, an industry group, told Energy Source that developing complete supply chains for a broad industrial base is more important than simply focusing on mining.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have inconsistent policies and we have conflicting priorities. We need to stop the talk,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Last month Prime Minister Mark Carney met Germany\u2019s Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin and signed<\/a> a \u201cjoint declaration of intent\u201d to deepen co-operation on critical minerals, energy and supply chain resilience.<\/p>\n

London said Carney\u2019s critical minerals push in Europe was \u201ccertainly a step in the right direction\u201d but he had \u201cconcerns\u201d regarding the lack of deliverables or deals. <\/p>\n

Heather Exner-Pirot, director of energy, natural resources and environment at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute in Ottawa, said financial support of the mining industry rather than policy was what is really needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s consensus on using public funds to support projects with a security aspect,\u201d she said. \u201cBut it will always be a challenge to find the right balance \u2014 to maximise the flexibility and responsiveness of the market with the structures of the private sector.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCanada will be better off if it can unleash its\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009mining financial sectors to solve these problems, rather than try to solve them all in Ottawa.\u201d <\/p>\n

In July the US defence department made an unprecedented $400mn direct investment<\/a> in the Las Vegas-based MP Materials and guaranteed a decade-long price floor for its output at nearly double the current market rate.\u00a0A tie-up with Apple, which is paying $200mn upfront to buy MP\u2019s magnets, which will be used in iPhones and computers, sweetened the deal.<\/p>\n

The Pentagon has made several minor investments<\/a> in Canadian critical mining companies but far more is needed to encourage investment and to build refineries.<\/p>\n

Torngat Metals, a Quebec-based rare earth company, secured C$165mn (US$120mn) in Canadian government loans in June to support the next phase of its Strange Lake project that aims to begin production in 2028.<\/p>\n

It was one of the companies touted during Carney\u2019s trip to Berlin as part of Canada\u2019s diversification away from an over-reliance on the US economy. <\/p>\n

Torngat also received<\/a> $50mn in November 2022 from Cerberus Capital Management, which at the time was co-run by Steve Feinberg, who is now deputy secretary at the US department of defence and led the MP Materials deal. <\/p>\n

But Exner-Pirot said despite the urgency, building new projects was still a slow process. <\/p>\n

On average, a Canadian mine takes almost 18 years to become operational if it came online in 2020\u201323, according to an S&P Global study<\/a> that looked at gold, copper, nickel and lithium projects that began production since 2000.<\/p>\n

In June, Ontario premier Doug Ford said Canada would fast-track the \u201cRing of Fire\u201d project<\/a> as the deposit, about 1,000km north of Toronto, contains vast quantities of minerals, including nickel, copper and platinum elements.<\/p>\n

But its remote location on lands belonging to First Nations people, as well as the huge costs and environmental risks involved in developing the region, have delayed its progress since being first discovered in 2008.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a priority premier Ford has raised with the prime minister just last week,\u201d said a spokesperson for Ford, adding there was an expected \u201cupdate on enabling infrastructure for the \u2018Ring of Fire\u2019\u201d on Wednesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

London said Canada needed an integrated strategy for a complete re-industrialisation of its economy and geopolitical outlook. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to get a blue-ribbon panel of proven and trusted industrial and financial experts to say, \u2018here are the five projects or value streams we are going to be doing\u2019 and get them into production. Right now, we essentially just aspire to do that,\u201d he said. (Ilya Gridneff)<\/p>\n

Power Points<\/p>\n