Solaris Resources said Tuesday it is voluntarily terminating a minority equity investment deal that was meant to expand a mining project in Ecuador, citing “heightened domestic political sensitivity.” In January, the miner had announced Zijin Mining Group would invest $130 million for a 15 per cent stake. (The Logic)

Talking point: Solaris said it walked away because the investment, which represented a 14 per cent premium on Solaris’s stock price in January, no longer makes economic sense now that its shares have risen more than 35 per cent during the four-month regulatory review. Canada has tightened national security reviews on investments in critical minerals, such as those used to make electric-vehicle batteries, as the U.S. tries to stem imports from China. “That this transaction cannot be completed in a reasonable timeframe signals that Canada’s critical minerals policy is counterproductive in relation to foreign assets,” Solaris CEO Daniel Earle said in a release.