The Canadian government this week ordered Chinese companies to divest their holdings in three Canadian-listed junior mining companies planning to develop lithium deposits.
The ban comes within days of Canada announcing a tougher policy on investment in the minerals sector by state-owned entities, particularly those from China, which dominates the processing of key energy transition metals such as lithium, cobalt and rare earths.
The order to divest follows what the government said was a “multi-step national security review process, which involves rigorous scrutiny by Canada’s national security and intelligence community.”
It promised to continue to “act decisively when investments threaten our national security and our critical minerals supply chains, both at home and abroad.” The move marks a hardening of geopolitical battle-lines in the metals sector and raises the question of what Canada and its metallic allies might do next in the name of national security.
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