Canada’s Critical Minerals Strategy: Progress update

Canada is investing in minerals that are key to clean energy and advanced technology and manufacturing, with an increased emphasis on dual-use minerals integral to commercial and defence value chains. This is where Canada can both address its strategic priorities and where it is competitively positioned to capture the economic benefits of expanded production.

Since 2022, several initiatives have been promoting the development of critical mineral production and processing in Canada.

• The Critical Minerals Infrastructure Fund (CMIF) has supported 33 clean energy and transportation infrastructure projects, including 6 shovel-ready projects for infrastructure deployment and 27 preconstruction projects.
• The Critical Minerals Geoscience and Data Initiative (CMGD) has launched 56 internal R&D projects and awarded funding to 18 external projects to provide the public with integrated datasets, knowledge and predictive models to accelerate responsible critical mineral exploration and development in Canada.
  • The CMGD has also released 6 new national-scale mineral potential maps and datasets.
• The Critical Minerals Research, Development and Demonstration Program (CMRDD) has funded 79 federal R&D projects collaborating with federal laboratories and industry partners to support the development of innovative processing technologies for the critical minerals industry.
  • These include 42 projects led by CanmetMINING focused on midstream extraction, processing, and clean technologies including zero-emission vehicle value chains.
  • These also include 19 projects led by CanmetMATERIALS aimed at strengthening domestic material value chains and supply chain security in metals, batteries, and magnets (material discovery, manufacturing, and recycling).
  • CMRDD has also supported 20 demonstration projects and 2 strategic investments with federal regional development agencies, helping to de-risk priority processing technologies and advance domestic critical minerals value chains.
• Through the Critical Battery Materials Initiative, the National Research Council is working with 20 industry and academic partners on 18 different projects to date to accelerate the discovery of new battery materials and critical mineral processing methods that will help unlock a clean, efficient, and competitive Canadian battery supply chain.
• Innovation, Science, and Economic Development Canada’s Strategic Response Fund (SRF) has announced large scale investments in 4 projects that advance critical minerals processing and refining, strengthen manufacturing and recycling capacity for clean technologies like batteries and zero-emission vehicles, and build industrial capabilities in advanced materials and semiconductor-related applications.
• The Government of Canada has strengthened the suite of tax incentives to support critical minerals production and processing, most recently expanding the coverage and eligibility for the Critical Mineral Exploration Tax Credit and the Clean Technology Manufacturing Investment Tax Credit and renewing the Mineral Exploration Tax Credit in 2025.

Canada is taking action to protect critical mineral value chains and industry from geopolitical threats, unfair market practices, and risks of foreign control. These threats can affect the economic viability of critical mineral projects at every stage of development — from exploration to production to processing and recycling.

Between 2020 and 2024, Canada reduced its net import reliance for 38% of critical minerals that were net import reliant between 2018 and 2022. This includes a reduction of 60% of mined critical minerals. By decreasing reliance on foreign suppliers, Canada protects itself from trade disruptions.

Canada is advancing several initiatives that will help protect its critical mineral value chains while supporting economic resilience and national security.

• Through its 2025 G7 Presidency, Canada led efforts to release the Roadmap to Promote Standards-Based Markets for Critical Minerals. Standards-based markets will improve mineral traceability and transparency and will enable Canada and its allies to encourage market-oriented investments and level the global playing field for critical minerals.
• Natural Resources Canada is securing supply by exploring options to stockpile critical minerals and by negotiating offtake agreements with critical mineral companies, starting with 2 offtake agreements with Rio Tinto and Nouveau Monde Graphite to support domestic production of scandium and graphite, respectively.
  • Canada also designated certain critical minerals as a national security priority under the Defence Production Act, which will allow Canada to further mobilize domestic production, stabilize pricing, and ensure supply to Canadian and allied defence industries, including NATO.
• In collaboration with the Department of National Defence, Natural Resources Canada is co-leading Canada’s participation in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Critical Minerals High Visibility Project focused on the joint acquisition, storage, transportation and management of stockpiles of defence critical raw materials.
• To address economic security threats, in 2025 Canada proposed amendments to the Export and Import Permits Act, awaiting ratification, to enable the Government of Canada to respond to actions of another country that harm Canada or to create more secure and reliable supply chains.
• Natural Resources Canada is working with provinces and territories to identify solutions to address gaps in federal, provincial and territorial mineral title regimes to mitigate risks associated with foreign ownership of strategic deposits of critical minerals on Canadian soil.
• The Global Partnerships Initiative (GPI) strengthens Canada’s role in secure and resilient critical minerals supply chains through international partnerships. To date, GPI has supported 16 projects that support defence and dual-use, traceability and capacity building initiatives.
• The Government of Canada continues to conduct thorough reviews of all foreign investments under the Investment Canada Act on a case-by-case basis. Foreign investments are assessed for potential net benefits and national security concerns, including any impact to Canada’s critical mineral supply chains.

Canada has what the world needs, and domestic and international partnerships help Canada realize its full potential by strategically leveraging its critical mineral assets and further promoting the domestic development of critical minerals.

Domestic

At home, Canada is partnering with provinces and territories, Indigenous groups, industry and other stakeholders to capitalize on strategic opportunities for critical mineral development while bolstering Canada’s strong reputation for responsible mining.

• The Critical Minerals Infrastructure Fund Indigenous Grants has funded 32 initiatives with Indigenous organizations in British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, the Northwest Territories, Ontario, and the Yukon.
• The Indigenous Natural Resource Partnerships Program (INRP) has supported 19 critical mineral-based projects. The INRP supports a broad range of Indigenous capacity development activities to increase participation, decision-making, and leadership advancement in critical minerals-related projects, including funding for capital purchases.
• Led by Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada, the Northern Regulatory Initiative (NRI) has supported 15 initiatives to promote community readiness and capacity building, streamline permitting processes, and improve data accessibility and collection. It has also supported 19 Indigenous governments and organizations and resource co-management boards to participate in impact assessment and land use planning processes.
• Natural Resources Canada is partnering with provincial and territorial governments to identify regional industrial zones with high potential for critical mineral value chain development.
• Natural Resources Canada launched a public Request for Information for stakeholders to share their views on the potential to develop the copper value chain in Western Canada.

International

Internationally, Canada is reaffirming the importance of multilateralism to ensure the development of resilient and secure critical mineral value chains.

• Through its G7 Presidency in 2025, Canada led the launch of the G7 Critical Minerals Action Plan, the Critical Minerals Production Alliance, and the Roadmap to Promote Standards Based Markets for Critical Minerals.
• Through the Critical Minerals Production Alliance, in October 2025 Canada announced over 20 new investments, partnerships and measures to accelerate and unlock $6.4 billion of critical minerals projects, all of which help promote critical mineral development, protect supply chains, and form partnerships.
• Canada has strengthened its leadership role within leading multilateral organizations, such as the OECD and the International Energy Agency (IEA), becoming the Chair of the IEA Critical Minerals Working Party which is focused on implementing the IEA Critical Minerals Security Program.
• Canada is deepening global partnerships with leading mining nations, investing $20 million towards the World Bank RISE Partnership and $10 million towards sectoral scholarships and support to the 85-member Intergovernmental Forum on Mining Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development.
• As of February 2026, Canada established new formal mechanisms for critical mineral cooperation with Germany, Australia and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia while remaining focused on the implementation of existing critical mineral collaboration frameworks with the United Kingdom, the European Union, France, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Chile and Argentina.