Fortune Minerals : Cobalt News

Innovation News Network - May 13, 2022

Ian M London, Executive Director of C2M2A, explores Canada's critical mineral potential and the country's ability to create domestic supply ...

In recent months, Canada's critical minerals sector has advanced many new developments. For instance, there have been major industrial investments, multiple governmental policy and budget announcements, and technology is progressing at rapid rates. These have all had an impact on the full suite of critical material supply challenges…Minerals are considered 'critical' based on several criteria: their role in the modern economy, including in the manufacture of advanced technologies and energy transition; their supply, which is limited or concentrated in a few countries; and their importance to energy and national security…Canada is an important producer of such critical minerals as aluminium, cobalt, copper, graphite, nickel, and uranium…With Canada's wealth of natural and human resources, an industrial platform, rich mining and metallurgical processing experiences, trade relations, well-established environmental, social, governance (ESG) reporting culture, and public/private partnership facilities - Canada has great critical mineral supply chain potential…European automaker Stellantis N.V. and South Korean battery manufacturer LG Energy Solution Ltd. recently announced that they will invest C$5bn in a joint venture to build Canada's first electric vehicle (EV) battery cell manufacturing plant, located in Windsor, Ontario. It would stand out amongst the largest, if not the largest, investment in the Canadian automotive sector in history…GM will develop the first all-electric assembly plant in Canada at CAMI Assembly in Ingersoll, Ontario…In April 2022, the federal government released its Budget 2022, which clearly recognised the importance of critical material supply chains to its advanced manufacturing and climate aspirations. The budget includes up to C$3.8bn over eight years to implement a Canadian critical minerals strategy…Canada is the only nation in the Western hemisphere with all the minerals and metals needed to produce advanced batteries for EVs. These minerals include copper, cobalt, REEs, graphite, lithium, manganese, and nickel…Governments, both nationally and provincially, are now embracing that, in addition to developing their domestic capacity to produce critical minerals and its associated supply chains, they can and will transform critical minerals into value-added products, thus creating their own value chains. This work includes processing minerals through separating, refining, and transforming refined minerals into chemicals and inputs such as cathodes, anodes, and oxides used in cutting-edge technologies for batteries, rare earth permanent magnets, and other applications in EVs…Canada's mining and metallurgical sectors have many advantages that could enable it to become a major supplier of critical minerals for advanced manufacturing and to assist transportation electrification. In addition to the advantages of the abundance of mineral resources and its potential for new discoveries, Canada enjoys recognised expertise and a skilled workforce, the availability of renewable energy, an effective and rigorous governance framework, and a stable and predictable geopolitical environment.