Strengthening global electric vehicle supply chains with Canadian sourcing
Whether it’s mining, manufacturing or charging, Canadian businesses and workers are attracting unprecedented investment in the electric vehicle supply chain. When electric vehicles use Canadian minerals, are assembled by Canadian automotive workers and equipped with Canadian-made charging stations, we protect and create jobs, grow our economy and protect air quality today and tomorrow.
In Saskatoon, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with workers at Vital Metals, Canada’s largest rare earth producer, today. Rare earth elements are critical minerals used in clean technologies such as electric vehicles and wind turbines. The Canadian government recently announced $5 million to help set up processing and production at this plant. These funds are part of a series of investments by the federal government to support jobs and growth in Canada’s critical minerals sector.
Critical minerals are the backbone of the clean economy and are in growing demand worldwide. Canada’s first Critical Minerals Strategy, released in December 2022, lays the groundwork for making Canada the world’s supplier of choice for critical minerals.
Canadian workers and businesses are already at the forefront of clean technologies and their components. As demand continues to grow, Canada’s position as a trusted supplier will create more jobs, grow our economy and reduce pollution to help fight climate change.
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“The world wants clean technology and Canada has the resources, skills and skilled workers to meet the demand. It is by mining and processing our critical minerals in Canada – the first step in the cleantech supply chain – that we can create good, middle-class jobs while ensuring clean air for generations to come. »
Highlights
- Critical minerals are essential to many global industries such as cleantech, healthcare, aerospace and IT. They are used in solar panels, phones and computers, and are essential for the production of electric vehicles. Permanent magnets and rare earth elements are important components of electric vehicle motors and many clean technologies.
- Canada’s Critical Minerals Strategy has an envelope of up to $3.8 billion in federal support announced in Budget 2022. Funds offered range from geoscience and exploration to mineral processing, manufacturing and recycling, research, development and technology deployment.
- Saskatchewan is Canada’s leader in the production of critical durable minerals because the province has large amounts of uranium. The world’s largest potash producer, the state has the world’s most durable potash mine.
- Recent federal government investments in critical minerals development include a contribution of up to $222 million through the Strategic Innovation Fund to help Rio Tinto Fer et Titane increase mineral extraction reviews, as well as a $27 million contribution to E3 Lithium Ltd. Under the Net Zero Accelerator initiative of the Strategic Innovation Fund.
- Canada currently produces 60 minerals and metals from 200 mines.
- Vital Metals is a leading producer of rare earths in Canada. The company crushes and sorts the mineral at its Nechalacho mine in the Northwest Territories before transporting it to its rare earths plant in Saskatoon.
