Feeling left out: northern Ontario junior miners want more critical minerals funding

Rachel Ziemba is a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, a think tank based in Washington, D.C.

She said there is an increasing recognition of how important critical mineral supply chains are for the energy transition, from oil-fuelled vehicles to electric vehicles.

"There's been a recognition that there needs to be more investment," she said.

"This is also coming at a time when countries like the U.S and, to some extent, countries like Canada are very much focused on trying to reduce the reliance and dominance on China in that supply chain."

Ziemba said Canada has recently stepped up its funding to attract and build electric vehicle battery plants to keep up with the U.S and Europe.

"There is money being sort of thrown at this point to make sure that Canada can also be part of the EV supply chain," she said.

She adds that in the government's haste to invest, critical mineral projects can get left behind.

"The problem is that so much money is going to these battery plants, and much less money and time and policy I think is being spent on the raw materials and the partially processed materials that will actually be used in those plants."

Ziemba says she worries that if not enough funding is contributed to the critical mineral sector, it will take longer to produce the materials needed for any EV battery plants.

She says in that case, Canada may have to continue relying on minerals imported from other countries.

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