What actions miners can take?
Increase investment in critical mineral projects/restart projects once halted
Canada already has some production levels of nickel, copper and cobalt. However, commercial production of lithium and rare earth elements has been minimal so far. With improved earnings after a recent rise in lithium prices, miners are considering projects restarts — for instance, Nemaska’s plan to relaunch its Québec lithium mine after four years of insolvency.6 The incentives provide an opportunity for miners to further direct capital towards growing production and developing unexplored markets.
Increase integration with value chain players
Miners can increase business value with cross-sector collaborations across the value chain. Offtake agreements between miners and automakers and technology partnerships between miners and mining services providers are already on the rise in Canada.
Moreover, lithium M&A activities have also increased in recent months. For instance, Pristine Lithium acquired three lithium brine projects in Saskatchewan from Lithium Bank Resources, and Metal Energy acquired the Source Rock lithium brine project in Ontario.7
Decarbonize operations by investing in clean technology equipment
Canada offers a 30% tax credit for investment into clean technology equipment such as solar and wind electricity generation systems, electricity storage and non-road industrial zero-emission vehicles. Mining companies can capitalize on this to install renewable energy systems at their sites, invest in electric mining vehicles for operations, and explore other clean energy technologies such as battery storage that does not use fossil fuels in its operation, which will improve operational efficiency and help them meet their decarbonization targets.