Canada’s Energy and Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson said Monday that the world is entering the “largest investment supercycle in the history of the metals and mining industry,” the Financial Post reported.
At an event hosted by Canada House in London, Hodgson told attendees, “critical minerals are no longer simply industrial commodities,” according to the Financial Post. “They are the inputs that will decide which economies can grow, which can compete and which countries will secure their economic futures.”
In its updated Critical Minerals Strategy, released in August, Canada said it is moving decisively to become a global mining and critical minerals leader.
Canada unveiled draft legislation in September that would speed up the approval process for major natural resource projects, a goal Prime Minister Mark Carney said is necessary to help deal with US tariffs.
Carney has said Canada must scale back on obstacles to growth and streamline a complex approval process for major projects that can drag on for over a decade.
The country is aiming to pass Building Canada Strong Act, a 240-page bill tabled in September that the Minister has said would create a process for major project approvals to be reviewed by one federal agency within one year.
The ruling Liberals emphasized that achieving the one-year timeline was not only dependent on the regulatory process, but would also require project proponents to provide data and project information in a timely manner.
The government has vowed to move quickly on major energy and mining projects and new oil and gas export infrastructure.
Hodgson, a former Goldman Sachs executive recruited by Carney to run for office, is a key minister tasked with delivering on the agenda.