After a national security review, Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne is ordering three Chinese resource companies to sell their interests in Canadian critical mineral firms.
Champagne’s order comes less than a week after he said Canada would be limiting the involvement of foreign state-owned companies in the industry.
Critical minerals and metals, such as lithium, cadmium, nickel and cobalt, are essential components of everything from wind turbines and electric cars to laptops, solar panels and rechargeable batteries.
China is the dominant player in critical minerals refining and processing, as well as the manufacturing supply chain of battery cell components.
But China does not produce a lot of the minerals, and has instead invested heavily in overseas mines in places like Canada to acquire the raw materials it needs….