British Columbia is enhancing its critical minerals sector, positioning itself as a key player to meet global demand. We spoke to the Province’s Ministry of Mines and Critical Minerals to find out more.
British Columbia (B.C.) is poised to play a crucial role in the global transition to clean energy through its rich reserves of critical minerals and battery metals. As the demand for sustainable technologies skyrockets, B.C. is strategically enhancing its mining sector to meet global needs while fostering sustainable economic growth.
The recently released B.C. Critical Minerals Strategy outlines a comprehensive approach to bolster exploration and production of vital minerals, strengthening partnerships with First Nations and aligning with international market trends.
The Innovation Platform’s Maddie Hall spoke with British Columbia’s Ministry of Mines and Critical Minerals to gain insights into the province’s critical minerals strategy, and their significant contributions to the global battery metals market, the advantages it offers, and its involvement in international initiatives such as Horizon Europe.
British Columbia’s Critical Minerals Strategy
Critical minerals are a key pillar of B.C.’s competitive mining sector that attracts widespread investment in new exploration, development, and operations and contributes to cleaner, healthier communities for people in British Columbia.
B.C. has the potential to become a strong contributor to the global battery metals market, with 54% of Canada’s copper production and opportunities in other minerals that are used in the battery production sector, like nickel, cobalt and rare earth elements. B.C. is already producing or has the high potential of producing over half of the 34 critical minerals listed by the Government of Canada.
Global demand for critical minerals, including metals that are valued for the battery market, is growing substantially to capitalise on this demand.
In 2024, the Ministry of Mining and Critical Minerals released B.C. Critical Minerals Strategy.
The Strategy includes 11 actions to support critical minerals development, improve sector competitiveness, strengthen partnerships with First Nations and drive sustainable economic growth in the province. Through the Strategy, we have enhanced access to world-class public geoscience and released publications focused on critical minerals, including the BC Critical Minerals Atlas, to support explorers, First Nations, and the mining industry.
We are advancing our Environmental, Social, and Governance performance through the Mines Digital Trust, which has garnered recognition from the United Nations. We have also launched the Critical Minerals Office while introducing a renewed focus to dramatically reduce permitting timelines. This effort involves close collaboration with industry and First Nations to establish fixed timelines for exploration and major mine projects. Building on previous success, such as reducing major project review timelines by over 35%, this work aims to further streamline processes and drive greater efficiency.
British Columbia’s competitive edge in the global battery metals market
In addition to our critical minerals mining and future potential, B.C. is also home to refineries, with the Rio Tinto aluminium smelter in Kitimat and the Teck Resources lead-zinc smelter in Trail, both of which can supply critical minerals needed for clean energy applications, including EV battery manufacturing.
The province has well-established, integrated transportation networks, including rail and ports that support imports and exports, and a robust power grid that enables critical minerals mining and manufacturing. B.C. is home to several world-leading mining and battery metals processing and recycling technology companies, including Minesense, Mangrove Lithium, Saltworks Technologies, pH7 Technologies, NORAM, RecycliCo, and Invinity Energy Systems, which have battery research and engineering plants.
In B.C., we are focused on strengthening the mineral exploration and mining sector to ensure a stable and transparent environment for global partners and investors. With our abundant resources and commitment to responsible resource development, we are taking proactive steps to attract investments that support sustainable growth and benefit both local communities and the global market.
Ministry of Mines and Critical Minerals’ involvement in Horizon Europe initiatives on critical minerals
In January 2025, the European Union, Canada and B.C. co-hosted a critical raw materials dialogue event in Vancouver: EU BC Canada Critical Raw Materials Policy Dialogue workshop as part of the Canada-EU Strategic Partnership on Raw Materials to explore shared goals and opportunities in the critical minerals sector. The event also identified future pathways to strengthen B.C.-EU collaboration in this strategic area.
While the Ministry was not directly involved, we were pleased to note that Vancouver-based junior mining company Capacitor Metals – currently advancing a tantalum & niobium project in B.C. – recently received €178,000 in funding from the Horizon Europe research programme. This support includes testing materials at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya-Barcelona Tech in Spain.
Impact of climate policies on critical minerals development in British Columbia
The B.C. Critical Minerals Strategy is being advanced in alignment with other government priorities, including the Province’s CleanBC climate action plan, electrification, reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples, land use planning, nature conservation and other initiatives.
B.C.’s mining sector is also a leader in low-carbon mining:
- Accessing clean power from BC’s electricity grid.
- increasing industry innovation in low-emission technologies.
Involving local communities: The benefits of growing the battery metals industry
Mining provides approximately 40,000 jobs for people in communities throughout the province and supplies the minerals that are critical to our low-carbon future.
Communities and First Nations in mining areas benefit economically through procurement opportunities and revenue-sharing agreements. In some cases, First Nations also play a direct role in mining and battery value chain projects. Notable examples include the McLeod Lake Indian Band’s partnership with Defense Metals on the Wicheeda rare earth elements project.
The Province is committed to early, continuous engagement and consultation with communities – a key pillar of its responsible mining standards, upheld through the Mines Act and Environmental Assessment permitting processes.
Ministry support for R&D in critical minerals: Technologies and innovations
In the Upstream:
- Through public geoscience, mines permitting process improvements and infrastructure investments such as our $36bn announced for electrification and $195m for highway upgrades in northwest BC jointly with Canada, we are unlocking more opportunities for the responsible mining of battery metals including nickel and cobalt in the Turnagain, Baptiste and other deposits, which have attracted the attention of investors such as Mitsubishi and Sumitomo.
- B.C. also has strong fiscal incentives for mineral exploration and mining to support upstream development, e.g. the Mining Exploration Tax Credit.
As for the Downstream:
- B.C.’s post-secondary institutions produce 14,000 Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) graduates every year, as well as many in the skilled trades needed for the battery supply chain.
- The province is a leading hub of technology development in the mining and battery value chain, with many world-class innovators. Government supports these efforts through programmes such as Innovate BC, the Innovative Clean Energy Fund and the Centre for Innovation and Clean Energy.
- We have also established the $500m InBC investment fund and Manufacturing Jobs Fund to support manufacturing and value-added opportunities.
- These initiatives have invested in the University of British Columbia’s Battery Innovation Centre and in B.C. companies, including Mangrove Lithium and pH7 Technologies.
- We are seeing increasing interest in manufacturing in B.C., with NORAM Electrolysis Systems’ new facility in Richmond that will produce components that can be used to produce battery-grade lithium hydroxide.
- With strong recycling regulations, B.C. has an opportunity to be a leader in the recovery of battery metals from electric vehicles (EVs).
The response to battery metals supply chain disruptions in BC
We were encouraged to see that in February 2024, BloombergNEF’s annual EV battery supply chain report ranked Canada as the top country overall for our potential to build a secure, reliable and sustainable lithium-ion battery supply chain.
In the face of increasing global economic uncertainty, the Province has been squarely focused on welcoming and accelerating investment that diversifies and strengthens our economy.
We’ve convened senior deputy ministers from across critical sectors with a clear mandate to clear obstacles, drive decisions, and move projects forward quickly.
Targeted, short-term, time-sensitive, project-specific decisions are being expedited for projects that will benefit the province’s economy across energy, natural gas, forestry and mining sectors.
The work will include reducing regulatory complexity with a focus on accelerating specific major projects – and applying improvements across the board. The work also includes systemic change to ensure we are removing unnecessary delays and bottlenecks while maintaining environmental standards and meeting the requirement to consult with First Nations.
Working directly with companies, we will identify and resolve challenges to ensure we are doing everything we can from the government’s side to move projects through to construction.
The medium-term goal is to have clear permitting standards and objectives to make sure the process is effective and boosts confidence in doing business in BC. We will work closely with the federal government to move these projects forward.
An evolving sector: The future of BC’s critical minerals sector
In B.C., we are focused on transitioning to a low-carbon economy by switching away from fossil fuels towards renewable energy sources. This will require six times more critical minerals than current levels, according to the International Energy Agency.
B.C. already has low carbon intensity mines compared to its peers, and our metal mines only contributed 3% to B.C. industrial emissions in 2021. Our Critical Minerals Strategy will ensure that we produce those essential minerals, products and technologies that will contribute to the global low-carbon economy and help to drive BC’s net-zero transition.
Electrification is a key pathway for the decarbonisation of industrial sectors such as mining. Accelerated electrification through energy planning and the BC Hydro Task Force will help us to achieve our climate targets while maintaining a strong economy.
For some proposed critical minerals mines, expansion of power infrastructure will be required, and the government is working closely with BC Hydro to explore options to grow our transmission capacity through projects like the North Coast Transmission Line.
Please note, this article will also appear in the 22nd edition of our quarterly publication.
