Canada’s rich mineral deposits and generous critical minerals incentives are attracting Australia-based companies, fostering collaboration between the two nations to secure a reliable supply of commodities needed for the energy transition
Over the last five years, Australian mining companies have been flocking to Canada. Between 2018 and 2022, direct Australian investment in Canada’s mining and quarrying industry grew exponentially from $1.7 billion to $9.8 billion, according to Statistics Canada. In just two years from 2020 to 2022, the investment more than doubled. While the figures for 2023 are not yet available, anecdotally, it seems the Australian mining wave in Canada continues to grow.
“It was the peer pressure that everyone [in Australia] was looking at Canada,” joked Michael Anderson, managing director for Western Australia-based lithium exploration company. Forrestania Resources, when asked what drew his company—which is also exploring in Australia’s eastern goldfields—to Canada. In May, Forrestania formed a 50/50 partnership with Vancouver-based ALX Resources to explore the Hydra lithium project in northern Quebec.
“I think [investment in Canada] has become much more prolific in the last six to 12 months,” he added, pointing to Quebec’s James Bay region as a hotbed for hard-rock lithium exploration, with notable successes such as Canada-based Patriot Battery Metals’ high-grade lithium discovery at its Corvette property in 2017.
For the rest of this article: https://magazine.cim.org/en/management/the-australian-wave-en/