Critical minerals in focus as major Toronto mining conference underway

A view of stalls at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) Conference, in this file photo in Toronto on Monday, March 3, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

The push to accelerate critical minerals development is a key focus at one of the world’s biggest mining conferences in Toronto this week.

The Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada conference, which says it attracts over 27,000 attendees, comes as the push accelerates for countries to secure supplies of key metals like copper, nickel and lithium amid rising global trade tensions.

“The industry faces real challenges, serious ones, geopolitical risk. The world is more fragmented than it has been in decades,” Don Lindsay, former CEO of Teck Resources Ltd., said in a keynote speech Monday.

“We’re seeing supply chain vulnerability, we’re seeing countries trying to secure critical minerals for themselves. We’re exposed to geopolitical risk like we’ve never been before.”

The trends have led politicians to get onside with industry, Lindsay said.

“Prime ministers and presidents talk about accelerating permits and development. They get it, finally.”

At the conference Monday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford released an accelerated schedule for construction of a road to develop the so-called Ring of Fire critical minerals region of northern Ontario.

The plan is to start construction in June to have the roads completed by 2031, several years ahead of the previous schedule.

“With President Trump’s tariffs causing so much uncertainty, we don’t have a second to waste,” Ford said.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s joint statement released Monday with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi underscored a commitment to deepening partnerships in resource sectors.

The announcement included the two countries signing a memorandum of understanding on critical minerals value chains, and noted India’s presence at the PDAC conference in Toronto.

The push to develop critical minerals will, however, need further government support because of funding shortfalls, said an RBC report out Friday.

The report noted there’s a lack of patient risk capital, in part because of the past hollowing out of Canada’s mining industry that has limited the number of national champions.

It said that between 2005 and 2012 more than $119 billion in Canadian base metals and steel assets transferred to foreign ownership, including the likes of Inco, Alcan and Falconbridge.

London-headquartered Anglo American PLC is meanwhile working to close its takeover of Teck Resources Ltd., though the two have billed it as a merger of equals that will create a Vancouver-based critical minerals champion.

The RBC report said the federal government needs to scale the use of sovereign capital across the full value chain, noting Ottawa’s $2-billion Critical Minerals Sovereign Fund lacks heft.

It also advocated for more public spending on infrastructure to help projects, noting the $2.4 billion in road and transmission funding needed to get Ontario’s Ring of Fire going.

Clustering critical minerals processing, attracting foreign major miners, and cautiously forging closer ties with U.S. supply chains are also important, the report said.

Canada considers 34 minerals and metals to be part of its official critical minerals list, which includes a range of resources from aluminum to zinc.

The resources are considered critical for priority areas like electrification, technology and the defence industry.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 2, 2026.

Ian Bickis, The Canadian Press