Ottawa wants Canada to be the lead dog when it comes to developing and expanding its critical minerals value chain.
That’s why the federal government is ponying up $43.5 million to advance road, power and research projects in Quebec.
Mining proponents on the eastern side of the James Bay region and northern Quebec were the recipients this week of a stream of program funding through the federal government’s critical minerals strategy.
Federal Energy and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson delivered the news on Feb.6. The bulk of the money came through the Critical Minerals Infrastructure Fund.
Critical Elements Lithium snagged $20 million to construction a power station and string $4.2 kilometres of transmission line to service its Rose Lithium-Tantalum Mining project in Eeyou Istchee James Bay.
Indigenous-owned Eskan Company received $13.5 million to undertake a feasibility study for its Trans-Atikh Project to extend the Renard Mine access road by 87 kilometres and support several lithium mine developments in Eeyou Istchee James Bay. A road will offer greater access to the territory by land users.
Commerce Resources landed $2.6 million for a feasibility study for its proposed 175-kilometre-long Ashram Rare Earth Project access road in Kuujjuag. It involves assessing the permafrost and some geotechnical investigation on a road that would connect the Ashram rare earths and fluorspar deposit to a landing point on the Koksoak Roiver. This infrastructure would support mine production of these minerals in the Nunavik region of northern Quebec.
Dumont Nickel is pocketing $1.1 million for a feasibility study to link its Dumont nickel and cobalt project in Abitibi to the Hydro-Québec grid via an eight-kilometre transmission line.
Sayona Nord landed $1.3 million for a 55-kilometre-long transmission line to provide power to its Moblan lithium project in Eeyou Istchee James Bay.
Cbay Minerals was given $1.3 million to complete a feasibility study and environmental-social impact assessment surrounding the building of two-lane gravel roads and a 25-kilovolt power line to the Corner Bay and Devlin deposits near the town of Chibougamau.The road would allow material to be moved to the Copper Rand concentrator. This infrastructure is tied into Dore Copper’s hub-and-spoke mining model.
On the innovation side, COALIA received $3.7 million from the federal Critical Minerals Research, Development and Demonstration Program to scale-up its lithium extraction process in Thetford Mines.
The company wants to carry out a pilot project that would extract and purify lithium from spodumene concentrate. In the lab, this process recovers 90 per cent of the available lithium using nitric acid as a leaching agent. The byproducts of this process are a highly pure aluminum concentrate and a nitrogen fertilizer.
"These projects, under the Canadian Critical Minerals Strategy, will help expand Quebec's sustainable critical minerals production, notably rare earths that are used in electronics, clean energy, aerospace, automotive and defence,” said Wilkinson in a statement.
“Developments like this help mines get built faster, and they are a key element in seizing the generational opportunity before us. The Government of Canada is supporting projects that strengthen Canada's supply chains, enhance our ability to be a reliable supplier of the critical minerals the world is demanding and foster economic growth while creating good jobs."
