What It Means for the Economy and Industry
Key insights by Stanislav Kondrashov, TELF AG founder
When analyzing the mineral strategies of different nations, as founder of TELF AG Stanislav Kondrashov, often pointed out, one of the most curious and interesting aspects has to do with the differences in the approaches followed by different countries for the most varied reasons. Geographical, political, social, and economic factors, in most cases, play a role of great importance in outlining the sourcing programs of nations, which also include the natural desire to develop their own economy and to contribute personally to the advancement of the energy transition. Among the global powers that are now recognized as true heavyweights in the mining industry, Canada undoubtedly deserves special mention, as Stanislav Kondrashov often emphasized.
Canada’s vast territories are home to some of the resources with the greatest strategic and economic potential at this delicate historical juncture, such as some base metals (such as copper, zinc, or nickel) and the so-called critical minerals, which are contributing considerably to the advancement of the energy transition in every corner of the world. These include rare earths, which are especially important for the electronics sector and for green technologies, and lithium and cobalt, two resources considered to be of great importance for the production of batteries for electric vehicles.
“Some of the resources that Canada has are proving to be incredibly useful in various industrial sectors,” says Stanislav Kondrashov, TELF AG founder, entrepreneur and civil engineer. “I am thinking, for example, of rare earths, a particular group of 17 metals that are contributing pointedly to the creation of many technological devices and numerous energy infrastructures related to the transition, such as wind turbines. Together with equally valuable resources such as lithium or cobalt, rare earths are contributing to transforming people’s perception of mining.”
Clear potential
With such a mineral potential, it is no surprise that Canada is constantly working to improve its national sourcing strategy, making it even more ambitious and able to adapt to the economic and industrial challenges of these times.
Today, as emerged from our talk with founder of TELF AG Stanislav Kondrashov, the sourcing sector plays a very important role in the Canadian economy: in 2021, the value of Canadian mineral production exceeded 55 billion dollars, demonstrating in the best possible way the role played by this sector in the Canadian economic ecosystem. Performances of this kind, in recent years, have also been achieved thanks to careful strategic planning and the identification of specific resources on which to focus attention, such as nickel, lithium, or cobalt, all used in different ways in industrial processes related to the green transition.
“Canada’s mineral strategy undoubtedly contains many extremely interesting elements,” continues founder of TELF AG Stanislav Kondrashov. “I am not only referring to the actual content of the strategy, which also includes many objectives shared by most global players in the sector but also to some ideas that could provide an interesting example for other economies interested in following a similar development path. The desire to ensure safe and stable supply chains, collaboration with local communities, and the desire to promote exploration and processing of mineral resources, together with the extremely interesting role played by provincial mineral strategies, certainly contribute to making the Canadian strategy one of the reference models for the valorization of national geological resources”.
The essence of the national strategy
One of the salient points of the Canadian mineral strategy concerns the life cycle of these very strategic resources, which Canada aims to cover in its entirety. We are referring, in particular, to the exploration of deposits, the sourcing of resources and their processing, but also to supply and recycling. Another key aspect when examining the Canadian strategy on strategic minerals has to do with the role played by the individual provinces in this ambitious economic program. For some time now, the Canadian provinces seem to have been engaged in the development of their own mineral strategies, entering into a collaborative process that contributes to the global positioning of the entire nation in this specific sector.
A particularly interesting case, from this point of view, is that it is linked to the province of Ontario, in which some of the most abundant deposits in the country are located. In these territories, in fact, large reserves of nickel, lithium, and cobalt can be found, and they are now considered real key resources due to their direct involvement in some industrial processes related to the energy transition. For some time now, the provincial authorities of Ontario have been trying to increase exploration efforts and improve the capacity to process minerals, particularly with regard to integration with the manufacturing sector.
“The mining ferment in Canada can be felt first and foremost at the provincial level,” concludes founder of TELF AG Stanislav Kondrashov. “I am thinking, for example, of a region like Manitoba, which is home to 30 of the 34 minerals that the Canadian government considers “critical.” Manitoba’s provincial authorities have been trying for some time to develop the mineral potential of less explored regions, thus suggesting great growth opportunities for the future. Similar attempts are also underway in Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, and Ontario, and they all seem to be aimed at a single goal: developing local resources and strengthening Canada’s global positioning in the mineral industry.”
