Mining lobby warns Ottawa against taking miners for granted in push for more aid

Missing link in government strategy is the millions needed to build the mines

Voisey’s Bay mine — one of the world’s largest nickel deposits — in Newfoundland and Labrador.Photo by Vale

Existing policies have encouraged the hunt for new mineral deposits in Canada, and have brought investment from big automakers and battery companies such as Volkswagen Group and LG Energy Solutions in the past year, said Pierre Gratton, head of the Mining Association of Canada.

But the government “appears to have taken for granted” miners, who require millions of dollars to construct mines, Gratton said ahead of the federal budget on March 28.

“We have projects now that are almost shovel-ready but they are having trouble raising financing,” said Gratton, who represents a group of about 50 of the country’s biggest miners. “They sort of have taken our sector for granted, just assumed that Canada is a mining powerhouse, and we are going to be fine, but we are not.”

The demand for electric vehicles has increased globally as nations work on ways to meet their climate goals. Canada is looking to build a low-carbon EV industry and in its last budget allocated $3.8 billion to boost the critical minerals sector.

It was a move that Gratton lauded at the time. However, 12 months on, the sector hasn’t benefitted as expected. He said that none of the $1.6 billion so far allocated under the government’s Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF) will benefit an advanced mining project nearing construction.

BHP Group Ltd. received $100 million from the fund in January, but that was meant for the development of its potash mine in Saskatchewan. The remaining announcements were mostly linked to auto and battery companies such as Umicore SA, Stellantis NV and General Motors Co.

“If these car companies think that we are going to be able to supply them on the track that we are on now, they are mistaken, so we have got to do something to turn that around,” said Gratton.

The federal government announced $14 million in six early-stage Canadian mining projects focused on producing metals such as nickel, lithium and rare-earth groups earlier this month. Gratton described the amount as “peanuts” when compared to the millions each miner will require to eventually build the mine.

Gratton’s main concern is that Canada’s production of metals such as cobalt and nickel — both of which are used in EVs — have decreased in the past decade. He said the government needs to take steps to change the trend.

“We are going to have to accelerate the work we are doing and we are going to have to ensure that we are being as efficient as we possibly can in all parts of the value chain, that very much includes existing mines,  new mines and finding ways to actually extract value from what is perceived as waste now,” Wilkinson added.

Gratton isn’t suggesting that the government hasn’t taken any positive steps. He said that the decision to double the mineral exploration tax credit for some critical minerals and its investment in geoscience and research and development in mining were significant.

“All of that is going to help contribute with new discoveries, but if those discoveries can’t become mines, because we can’t attract investment into Canada, because companies are choosing to invest elsewhere where it’s more attractive, we are going to have all these discoveries going nowhere,” said Gratton. “The strategy will fail.”