Canada Unlocks $6B to Accelerate G7 Critical Minerals Action Plan
After launching the G7 Critical Minerals Action Plan (#CMAP) in June 2025, Canada is initiating the Critical Minerals Production Alliance to ‘secure and diversify global #CriticalMinerals production and supply.’ The announcement was made by Canadian Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Tim Hodgson, on the margins of the #G7 Energy and Environment Ministers’ Meeting in Toronto on 31 October 2025.
The Plan include several new investments, partnerships, or measures to catalyze #CriticalMinerals projects. The first round is forecasted to unlock some USD 6.4 billion and includes the following projects:
| No. | Company | Project | Amount USD M |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vianode | Synthetic Graphite Production | 500 |
| 2 | Nouveau Monde Graphite | Matawinie Mine | 465 |
| 3 | Torngat Metals | Strange Lake Rare Earths Facility | 120 |
| 4 | Ucore Rare Metals | Kingston Processing Facility | 46 |
| 5 | Rio Tinto | Scandium Production | 25 |
| 6 | Northern Graphite | Lac des Iles Mine |
In addition, Export Development Canada, Natural Resources Canada, and UK Export Finance are joining forces to finance projects related to Critical Minerals, including #RareEarths. Moreover, it is worth recalling that Canada and Australia signed off a Joint Declaration of Intent on Critical Minerals Cooperation back in March 2024.
Italy’s ENI intends to invest in a project involving the extraction and processing of Critical Minerals in Canada. Previously in May 2025, another Italian firm, Cogne Acciai Speciali, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Canada’s Greenland Resources to secure the long-term supply of #Molybdenum to the EU.
Minister Hodgson also highligted that up to USD 20 milllion is earmarked to support research and development of Critical Minerals projects in collaboration with ‘like-minded countries.’ In particular, Natural Resources Canada is investing USD 14 million to work on high-temperature electrotherrmal purification process for natural graphite in collaboration with Ukraine’s Thermal & Material Engineering Center and American Energy Technologies Company.
“As we move swiftly to reduce dependence on concentrated supply chains, our collective commitment is clear. Every delay is a concession of economic and national security interests. We will no longer accept that.”
Canada Minister of Natural Resources Tim Hodgson
Another key aspect of the Plan is to bolster the recycling of Critical Minerals. Under a collaboration framework with Germany, the National Research Council (NRC) of Canada is undertaking a research project on upcycling natural #Graphite to be used for battery anodes.
Canada’s York University is partnering with Germany’s Technische Universitat Braunschweig, H.C. Starck Tungsten, and Fraunhofer IST to develop #AI-optimized metallurgical processes to recover battery metals and advance lithium-ion battery recycling technologies.
The NRC is also funding UK’s Telescope Innovations Corporation’s Cellmine project which aims to recycle spent #Lithium batteries. Similarly, Canada’s Excir Works Corporation, in collaboration with Royal Mint UK and WEE Scotland, has received support from NRC to expand its Critical Minerals recycling program. Last but not least, NRC has also provided a half-million dollar grant to fund Vale Europe and UK’s Tunley Environmental for their project to enhance #Nickel production.