Govt. officials unveil mining action plan to bolster competitiveness

Federal and provincial officials, along with industry and Indigenous stakeholders, announced March 2 the rollout of an action plan under the Canadian Minerals and Metals Plan (CMMP), to bolster competitiveness in the mining industry.

Seamus O’Regan, minister of Natural Resources, who was a part of the announcement at the 2020 Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) convention in Toronto, said in a statement, “The world needs more of Canada’s valuable, sustainably produced minerals and metals. This action plan begins our work to put Canadian mining on a track to benefit from the global shift to a cleaner and more digitalized economy.”

Natural Resources Canada says pan-Canadian initiatives identified in the CMMP are:

• Economic development and competitiveness: A new pan-Canadian public geoscience strategy to develop geological resources, including critical minerals.
• Advancing the participation of Indigenous peoples: Indigenous procurement conferences and other measures to support Indigenous business development.
• The environment: A new mandate for the multi-stakeholder National Orphaned/Abandoned Mines Initiative with a greater focus on climate-related risks, remediating legacy mines and improving financial assurances at new mines.
• Science, technology and innovation: Innovation prize challenges to help develop Canadian solutions to global mining challenges.
• Communities: A mineral literacy hub and a “Canadians of Mining” campaign to build community support for sustainable mineral development and attract underrepresented groups to the sector.
• Global leadership: A “Canada Brand for Mining” to translate Canadian leadership and products into more foreign direct investment.

Further CMMP action plans will be released in 2021 and 2022, with subsequent editions following every three years.

Canada’s minerals and metals industry accounts for 626,000 direct and indirect jobs, including 16,500 jobs for Indigenous peoples, 19% of Canada’s total domestic exports and approximately $47 billion in mineral production.