Canada has a significant opportunity to supply critical minerals to Europe, but governments and industry now need to move from agreements and strategies to actual projects, according to Evan Pivnick of Clean Energy Canada.
Pivnick told Energi Media that critical minerals are becoming increasingly important as transportation, electricity systems and other parts of the global economy electrify.
Canada’s federal Critical Minerals Strategy identifies 34 minerals. A new Clean Energy Canada report focuses on 6 considered especially important to the energy transition: cobalt, copper, graphite, lithium, nickel and rare earth elements.
The report examines where Canada could help meet growing European demand while expanding domestic mining and mineral-processing industries.
The push is also being shaped by geopolitics. Pivnick said efforts in Canada, Europe and the United States to diversify critical-mineral supply chains are still at an early stage, even as governments have become more concerned about concentration in existing supply chains and the possibility that access to minerals can be used as geopolitical leverage. That has increased interest in supplies from allied countries.
Pivnick said Canada’s current approach risks spreading attention and investment across too many minerals instead of concentrating on areas where the country has strong resources and potential markets. Greater focus could help governments identify the most promising mines, processing opportunities and international partnerships.
Europe represents a particularly important potential partner. Countries seeking to diversify critical-mineral supply chains are increasingly interested in securing supplies from politically aligned producers. Canada has meaningful resources in all 6 minerals identified in the report and could supply part of that demand.
The opportunity extends beyond extraction. Pivnick said Canada also needs investment in processing and refining if it wants to capture more of the economic value created by critical-mineral supply chains.
Developing those industries presents a sequencing problem. Processing facilities require reliable mineral supply, while new mines need confidence that customers and processing capacity will exist. Long-term partnerships could help break that deadlock.
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Pivnick pointed to offtake agreements, under which buyers commit to purchasing future production, as one mechanism that could help Canadian projects secure financing. European investment could also provide capital needed to move projects from planning into construction.
Quebec has already demonstrated elements of this approach by supporting investments across different stages of the battery and mineral supply chain, Pivnick said. He described the province as a leader in thinking about the chain as a connected system, with investment extending from mining toward processing and refining rather than treating individual projects as isolated developments.
The next year could therefore become an important test of Canada’s critical-minerals strategy. Governments have signed memorandums of understanding and expanded international cooperation, including relationships with European partners. Pivnick said success will increasingly depend on whether those agreements produce tangible commercial outcomes.
Canada has the resources, while potential customers are looking for more secure supplies. Turning that advantage into an industry will require mines, processing facilities, refining capacity, financing and firm buyers.
“That’s where the rubber hits the road,” Pivnick said.
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