Canada unlocks 26 new investments and partnerships with 9 allied countries to secure critical minerals supply chains (G7 Critical Minerals Production Alliance, first round)

The first round of 26 projects and measures under the Canada-led G7 Critical Minerals Production Alliance, announced on 31 October 2025 in Toronto, which Canada says will unlock $6.4 billion of critical minerals projects. Among those naming a tracked material: Government of Canada offtake arrangements with Nouveau Monde Graphite's Matawinie mine, alongside earlier Canada Growth Fund investment of more than $35 million and an Export Development Canada letter of interest for up to US$430 million; a conditionally approved investment of up to $36.3 million in Ucore Rare Metals' samarium and gadolinium refining facility in Kingston (up to $26.3 million from NRCan and up to $10 million from FedDev Ontario); letters of interest for Vianode's synthetic graphite facility in St. Thomas, Ontario, of up to US$500 million from Export Development Canada and an export-credit guarantee of up to US$300 million from the German government; up to $14.1 million for Focus Graphite's electrothermal purification project; and $860,000 of NRC research funding for Northern Graphite and Rain Carbon Canada. Private offtakes (Torngat–Carester, Northern Graphite–Alkeemia) and several scandium and remaining lithium items are not separately recorded as rows. Telescope Innovations' two lithium projects are separately coded: the up-to-C$319,200 Li-PICK NRC IRAP contribution and the conditionally approved up-to-C$3.04 million CMRDD lithium-sulphide project. The nickel item is separately coded as a C$500,000 NRC IRAP commitment to NTwist Inc. for its project with Vale Europe Ltd. and Tunley Environmental Ltd. to improve nickel production and efficiency.

Canada's answer is a mix of offtake, export-credit letters of interest and conditional grants, several of them co-financed or co-purchased with allies (Japan, Germany, France, Italy), aimed at graphite and rare-earth processing. Much of it is not yet binding: letters of interest and conditional approvals, kept apart from binding money in every total.