British Columbia is strengthening its key mineral sector and has established itself as a key player in meeting global demand. We spoke with the state’s Mines and Important Minerals Department to find out more.
British Columbia (BC) is poised to play a key role in the global transition to clean energy through its rich reserves of important minerals and battery metals. As demand for sustainable technologies skyrockets, BC is strategically strengthening its mining sector to promote sustainable economic growth while meeting global needs.
The recently released BC Critical Mineral Strategy enhances exploration and production of key minerals, strengthens partnerships with First Nations, and outlines a comprehensive approach to tailoring international market trends.
Innovation platform Maddy Hall spoke with the Department of Mines in British Columbia and key minerals to gain insight into the province’s key mineral strategies and its important contributions to its involvement in international initiatives such as Horaisen Europe.
Key Mineral Strategies in British Columbia
The key minerals are key pillars of BC’s competitive mining sector, attracting widespread investment in new exploration, development and operations, contributing to a cleaner, healthier community for the people of British Columbia.
BC could be a strong contributor to the global battery metal market, with 54% of Canada’s copper production and other minerals used in the battery production sector, such as nickel, cobalt and rare earth elements. BC already produces or is likely to produce more than half of the 34 important minerals listed by the Canadian government.
Global demand for key minerals, including metals, valued in the battery market, has increased significantly to capitalize on this demand.
In 2024, the Ministry of Mining and the Ministry of Critical Minerals announced the BC Critical Mineral Strategy.
The strategy includes 11 actions to support the development of critical minerals, improve sector competitiveness, strengthen partnerships with First Nations, and promote sustainable economic growth in the state. Through this strategy, we have released publications focusing on key minerals, including BC Critical Mineral Atlas, to enhance access to world-class public geoscience and support the Explorers, First Nations and Mining industries.
We are promoting environmental, social and governance performance through Mines Digital Trust, which has gained recognition from the United Nations. It also launched the Critical Minerals Office and introduced a new focus to dramatically reduce the timeline of permits. The initiative includes close collaboration with industry and First Nations, establishing a fixed timeline for exploration and major mining projects. Building on previous successes, including reducing the timeline for major project reviews by more than 35%, the work aims to streamline the process further and promote greater efficiency.
British Columbia’s competitiveness in the global battery metal market
In addition to important mineral extraction and future possibilities, BC is also home to refineries, with the Rio Tinto Aluminum Smelter in Kichimat and the Teck Resource Lead Zinc Smelter in Trail.
The state has an established, integrated transport network, including railways and ports that support imports and exports, and a robust power network that allows for the mining and production of critical minerals. BC has several world-leading mining and battery metal processing and recycling technology companies, including Minesense, Mangrove Lithium, Saltworks Technologies, Ph7 Technologies, Noram, Recycleclico, and Invinity Energy Systems.
BC focuses on strengthening the mineral exploration and mining sector to ensure a stable and transparent environment for its global partners and investors. With its abundant resources and commitment to responsible resource development, we take proactive steps to support sustainable growth and attract investments that benefit both local communities and global markets.
Ministry of Mines and Critical Minerals Involvement on the Horizon Critical Minerals Initiative
In January 2025, the European Union, Canada and BC co-hosted a key raw material dialogue event in Vancouver. The EUBC Canada Critical Raw Materials Policy Dialogue Workshop is part of a Canadian-EU strategic partnership to explore shared goals and opportunities for key mineral sectors. The event also identified future pathways to enhance BC-EU collaboration in this strategic area.
Although the ministry was not directly involved, it has been discovered that Capacitor Metal, a Vancouver-based junior mining company (now working on the Tantalum & Niobium Project in BC), has recently received 178,000 euros of funds from the Horizon Europe Research Program. This support includes university test materials at Catalonia – Barcelona Institute of Technology, Spain.
The impact of climate policy on key mineral development in British Columbia
The BC Critical Mineral Strategy is being carried out in conjunction with other government priorities, including the state’s CleanBC Climate Action Plan, Electrification, Indigenous Reconciliation, Land Use Planning, Nature Conservation and other initiatives.
BC’s mining sector is also a leader in low carbon mining.
Access to clean power from the BC’s power grid. Increased industry innovation in low emissions technologies.
Local Community Engagement: Benefits of Growth in the Battery Metal Industry
Mining provides approximately 40,000 jobs to people in communities across the state, providing minerals important for our low-carbon future.
Mining area communities and First Nations are economically profiting through procurement opportunities and revenue sharing agreements. In some cases, First Nations plays a direct role in mining and battery value chain projects. Notable examples include the partnership between the McLeod Lake Indian Band and the Defense Metals on the Wichida Rare Earth Element Project.
The state is engaged in early and continuous engagement and consultation with the community. It is an important pillar of its responsible mining standards and supports environmental assessments that allow mining laws and environmental assessment processes.
Ministries support for R&D in critical minerals: technology and innovation
Upstream:
Through public geoscience, the mine will allow process improvements and infrastructure investments, including the $36 million announced in the Northwest B.C. highway upgrades in collaboration with Canada. BC also has strong financial incentives for mineral exploration and mining to support mineral exploration and mining. For example, mining exploration tax credits.
For downstream:
BC’s post-secondary institutions graduate with 14,000 science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) graduates each year, as well as many of the skilled transactions needed in the battery supply chain. The state is a major hub for technology development in the mining and battery value chains, with many world-class innovators. The government supports these efforts through programs such as Innovate BC, Innovative Clean Energy Fund, and the Center for Innovation and Clean Energy. It also established the $500 million INBC Investment Fund and Manufacturing Employment Fund to support manufacturing and value-added opportunities. These initiatives invest in the University of British Columbia Battery Innovation Center and BC companies that include Mangrove Britium and PH7 Technology. There is growing interest in manufacturing in BC, with a new facility in Noram electrolysis system in Richmond, producing components that can be used to produce battery-grade lithium hydroxide. Strong recycling regulations have the opportunity for BC to become a leader in the recovery of battery metals from electric vehicles (EVs).
BC battery metal response supply chain disruption
In February 2024, it was encouraged to confirm that Bloombergnef’s annual EV Battery Supply Chain Report ranked Canada as a whole country that is likely to build a safe, reliable, and sustainable lithium-ion battery supply chain.
In the face of increasing global economic uncertainty, states have focused straight on welcoming and accelerating investments that diversify and strengthen the economy.
We have convened Senior Vice Ministers from all over key sectors, fulfilling our clear obligation to clear obstacles, facilitate decisions and move projects forward quickly.
Targeted, short-term, time-sensitive, project-specific decisions are being driven by projects that benefit the state’s economy across the energy, natural gas, forestry and mining sectors.
This work involves reducing the complexity of regulatory focused on accelerating specific major projects and applying improvements across the board. This work also includes systematic changes to ensure that unnecessary delays and bottlenecks are removed while maintaining environmental standards and meeting requirements for consultation with First Nation.
Working directly with businesses, we will identify and resolve issues and make sure we are doing everything we can to move the project from the government side to construction.
The medium-term goal is to have clear permitting standards and objectives, ensure that the process is effective, and increase your confidence in doing business in BC. We will work closely with the federal government to advance these projects.
Evolving sectors: the future of BC’s important mineral sectors
BC focuses on the transition to a low-carbon economy by switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. According to the International Energy Agency, this would require six times more important minerals than current levels.
BC already has lower carbon strength mines than its peers, and our metal mines contributed only 3% to BC industrial emissions in 2021. Our key minerals strategy ensures that we produce critical minerals, products and technologies that contribute to the global low-carbon economy and help promote BC’s Net-Zero transitions.
Electrification is an important route for decarbonisation in industrial sectors such as mining. Electrification accelerated through the Energy Planning and the BC Hydro Task Force will help us achieve climate targets while maintaining a strong economy.
For the proposed important mineral mines, expanding the power infrastructure will be required, and the government is working closely with BC Hydro to explore options to increase transmission capacity through projects such as transmission lines on the north coast.
This article will also be featured in the 22nd edition of Quarterly Publication.
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