There’s a reason global investors like Mitsubishi Materials are backing critical-mineral projects in Yukon. Will others follow them North?
At last week’s Arctic360 Conference in Toronto, Kanji Yamanouchi, Japan’s ambassador to Canada, told me that in the age of the two Michaels and wars on multiple fronts, companies like Mitsubishi—which has also invested in a northern B.C. nickel project and is planning its next Canadian investments—are looking for stable jurisdictions in which to build out full supply chains “from the mountain to the cars.”
While Yamanouchi said he couldn’t confirm reports that Honda was eyeing Canada for an EV plant, he said he imagined the company has similar criteria, noting that Japanese companies are also paying “a lot” of attention to governments that advance Indigenous reconciliation.
Global diplomats and Arctic residents at the conference said they see the northern territories as key to completing those supply chains—and companies in the territorial North are eager to secure those deals, amid a major shift in the region’s economy. The Northwest Territories, for example, is bracing for the wind-down of major projects like the Diavik Diamond mine. But making it happen won’t be easy, especially with no clear national strategy to connect the supply chains of northern and southern Canada, and the well–warranted skepticism some in the North have of mining.
Here’s some of what Arctic360 attendees suggested.
Protecting supply chain connections to the territorial North: The much-hyped Nechalacho rare earths project in the Northwest Territories struggled to find its footing under Australia-based Vital Metals, and recently sold a 9.9 per cent stake in its N.W.T. project to Chinese investor Shenghe Resources.
“Clearly at that midstream part of the supply chain, there was a vulnerability,” said Menzie McEachern, assistant deputy minister, mineral and petroleum resources at the Government of Northwest Territories. “I know that there’s been major multibillion-dollar investments in say, battery plants in Eastern Canada, but you have processing in between. How do you protect that part of the supply chain from investments that the federal government may or may not deem desirable from a national security perspective?”
A new evolution in how miners work with Indigenous-led businesses: Rebecca Connelly, vice-president of strategy and engagement for Det’on Cho Management, said new mineral projects are evolving past just Impact Benefit Agreements into new business opportunities like true partnerships and equity for Indigenous stakeholders.
Now that there is more deal making directly with Indigenous communities, said Tłįchǫ Investment Corp. CEO Paul Gruner, the process needs to be “right sized” to a community’s capacity—and governments and industry need to pitch in on building capacity.
Bigger thinking on infrastructure investments. Policymakers and investors eyeing the Northwest Territories need to prioritize major investments in its grid, panellists said. Last year’s drop in water levels meant even the city of Yellowknife had to use diesel generators to supplement its power supply, much of which is drawn from hydro, noted April Hayward, chief sustainability officer at lithium exploration company Li-FT Power.
Still, Gruner said, there are some misconceptions that mining projects in the northern territories lack infrastructure compared to other new sites. “When you look at even places like Quebec, Australia, etc., those locations are far, far more remote with a lot less infrastructure,” he said.
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