Teck CEO says Canada must spend more to erode China’s critical minerals dominance

Bloomberg News | October 10, 2024 | 

Teck CEO Jonathan Price. (Credit: BHP)

Teck Resources Ltd.’s chief executive officer warned the Canadian government that it isn’t doing enough to foster development in the critical minerals sector.


Speaking Thursday at an event in Ottawa, Jonathan Price said that while both the US and Canada have focused on developing the electric-vehicle and battery manufacturing sectors on the continent, support for mines and mineral processing continues to lag.

That stands in contrast with countries like Saudi Arabia and China, whose governments are spending billions to entrench their positions in global supply chains, he said.

Price flagged the massive public subsidies that Canada’s federal government has pledged to international companies including Volkswagen AG, Northvolt AB and Stellantis NV, and urged further investments to support resource autonomy in the country.

“Support for car and battery plants, absent support for the mines needed to support them, is like starting a farm-to-table restaurant — without bothering to plant the farm.”


Price also referred to Canada’s “cumbersome regulatory processes,” including lengthy permitting times, saying they make the sector less competitive and are a deterrent to investment. North American governments need “ambitious, targeted government incentives and investment” to grow critical minerals capacity, he said.

The comments come as North American governments push to re-shore productive capacity and reassert control over resource supply chains amid mounting criticisms of China flooding markets with cheaper products. Both the US and Canada have started to levy tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, as well as steel and aluminum products.

In a discussion after the speech, US Ambassador to Canada David Cohen said that both countries’ governments need to prioritize and encourage investment into the mining sector. While figuring out how to sustainably open the sector will “ultimately will be solved by the private sector,” Cohen noted North American policy should continue to offer “grants, incentives and credits to try and offset the impact and influence of China’s dominance.”

Cohen pointed to the Defense Production Act Investments program in the US, which has already provided funding to Canadian mining companies like Fortune Minerals Limited and Lomiko.

In his speech, Price noted that Canada’s government has has committed C$4 billion ($2.9 billion) in spending on critical minerals over eight years, while China has spent C$20 billion in 2023 alone, evidence that China will be aggressive in trying to consolidate its dominance in critical minerals.

“It’s about economic security, it’s about energy security, and it is about national security,” Price said.

At a news conference in Toronto, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said her government has put forward the first Canadian critical minerals strategy and it also has a suite of investment tax credits for green projects worth more than C$90 billion.

She said Canada is working closely with the US to coordinate supply chains, resulting in the American investments in Canadian miners. But western allies are seeing “very targeted, very intentional” Chinese action to “wipe out” nascent miners and processors, she said.

“We at the G-7, working with partners, working with all political allies in this space, really need to find collective ways to support our miners, our processors,” she said.

“I think we’ve all recognized that we need more supply chain security and I think it will take collective action to make that happen.”

(By Erik Hertzberg)