How Canada’s critical minerals push may spur hundreds of thousands of jobs

A report by a battery metals mining group highlights the potential for economic growth and job creation in Western Canada for mining critical minerals like lithium and copper.

Canada may have barely scratched the surface when it comes to mining critical minerals, and a new report suggests developing those resources could potentially create thousands of new jobs and help bolster the Canadian economy amid trade disruptions with the United States.

From electric vehicles to infrastructure and housing development, plus a new commitment by the federal government to increase defence spending to meet new NATO targets, demand for critical minerals is expected to continue to rise, and more job creation will likely be a part of that expansion.

Bill C-5 is also a major action plan by the federal government to speed up projects that support Canada’s economic expansion, including for critical minerals.

The latest report by the non-profit group Battery Metals Association of Canada outlines priorities for projects in mining and processing critical minerals, like copper, lithium and nickel.

The BMAC says in its study that increasing economic productivity, especially in critical minerals, will lead to “innovation potential and high-paying jobs” while supporting local communities. That comes as the new NATO spending target is expected to see members of the military alliance spend 3.5 per cent of their GDPs on defence and 1.5 per cent more on infrastructure to support defence needs.

“At first glance, it seems like that 1.5 per cent would really be well spent on critical battery minerals that are going to increase our geotech, political resilience and our energy security in an era of geopolitical competition,” said Bentley Allen, a principal at the The Transition Accelerator — one of the key groups contributing to the report.

“I think that there’s a real opportunity here to build out these defence metals. Most of the metals that we looked at in this report were focused on that battery value chain, but we also have broader work at the transition accelerator on tungsten and zinc and other things that have direct military applications

“We’re really hitting on a couple of different important national agendas with this work.”