The Mining Association of Canada | The Canadian Mining Story: Economic Impacts and Drivers for the Global Energy Transition 2023 11 POLICY COHERENCE ESSENTIAL TO MINING SECTOR’S COMPETITIVENESS The Canadian mining sector remains strong and has responded well to the challenges of recent years. The Mining Association of Canada’s (MAC) outlook is positive for the sector but believes that certain steps are required for the industry’s continued success. As a leading producer of responsibly sourced mineral and metal products globally, Canada has an opportunity to become the world’s leading supplier of inputs, specifically critical minerals, integral to a lower carbon economy. Towards Sustainable Mining®, a sustainability standard originally created by MAC in 2004 and now used by mining chambers globally, can help demonstrate responsible sourcing as it produces site-level performance data in key environmental and social areas. A growing body of federal policy actions that recognize the criticality of the Canadian mining sector to Canada’s future prosperity – both domestically and internationally – has taken shape. Increasingly, the mining industry’s importance to federal climate, Indigenous reconciliation and clean technology manufacturing policy objectives is crystallizing. Similarly, in relation to security and national defense contexts with Canada’s international partners, the sector is increasingly understood as being of national strategic interest. Relevant policy actions include: • The development, publication and ongoing roll out of the Canadian Minerals and Metals Plan • The publication of the federal government’s Canadian Critical Minerals list and Critical Minerals Strategy • The establishment of ongoing international critical minerals dialogues with the US, the EU, and other allies • The addition of critical minerals and critical minerals supply chains to updated Guidelines on the National Security Review of Investments under Section 38 of the Investment Canada Act With Canada’s North playing a key role in supplying minerals and metals to meet current and future demand, it is essential that a coherent approach to northern development be prioritized. Strategic investments in energy and transportation infrastructure are essential to ensure economic development and to reduce northern reliance on fossil fuels. The production of gold, diamonds and iron ore are key drivers for economic prosperity and Indigenous reconciliation in the North, with companies that mine these products acting as the largest (and in some cases the only) private sector investors, employers, skills-trainers and partners to Indigenous communities proximate to the mine sites. The infrastructure deficit in Canada’s North makes it one of the most expensive places to mine in the world. For example, construction of the Slave Geological Province Corridor would extend all-season road access to a mineral rich area straddling the NunavutNorthwest Territories border. This vast region shares many geological features with the
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