Leveraging Canada’s critical minerals – Norton Rose Fulbright hosts the Canadian Consulate General to the US in their inaugural conference in New York
Global | Press release - Business | December 2023
Norton Rose Fulbright hosted the Canadian Consulate General to the United States for its inaugural Canadian Critical Mineral Opportunities Forum, bringing together leaders from industry, government and Wall Street, as well as investment bankers and private equity firms. Held in New York City on December 6, the conference was in collaboration with Natural Resources Canada and Invest in Canada.
With the transition to a green economy, critical minerals are the building blocks that will sustain economic growth and are key inputs for priority supply chains. The forum brought together leaders to discuss investment and financing opportunities for Canadian critical mineral junior mining projects that extract critical minerals used in electric vehicles, batteries, and solar panels, as well as defence and aerospace technology. The Consul General of Canada in New York, Tom Clark, gave opening remarks that led into keynote speeches by the Canadian Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson (virtually), John Gallagher of Cerberus Capital Management and Divya Shah of Canada Infrastructure Bank. The conference welcomed an audience of more than 120 institutional investors, commercial lenders, a delegation of 18 mining companies, OEMs, and key players in the downstream battery supply chain.
“Canada produces more than 60 minerals and metals and is a leading producer of many critical minerals needed to produce batteries for EVs. Our government has set aside C$4 billion of incentives to increase the supply of responsibly sourced critical minerals,” said Alison Babbitt, Norton Rose Fulbright’s Canadian Co-Head of ESG. “We are thrilled to partner with our US colleagues, bringing together a leading cross-border team to host this forum and facilitate relationship building in this important area and to ensure future sustainability as we transition to a clean energy economy.”
“Canada is the only country in the Western Hemisphere with all of the minerals needed to produce batteries for electric vehicles,” commented Norton Rose Fulbright’s US Head of Mining, Steve Suzzan. “There is an enormous value proposition in the collaboration of key players within the North American critical minerals sector. Our cross-border team based across Canada and the US were honoured and thrilled to host this impressive forum.”
Across six sessions, panelists at the forum discussed sources of capital, how to access incentives, infrastructure investments and private sector funding, and ways to overcome challenges in North America’s critical minerals sector. Topics included resilient and sustainable critical mineral supply chains that partner with and support indigenous communities, collaboration with upstream supply chains such as automotive EV batteries, solar panels, wind turbines and semiconductors, ambitions to develop North American processing capacity, and the impacts recycling technology can have on the circular nature of the industry, among a host of other perspectives. Norton Rose Fulbright associate Laura Konkel moderated one of the panels.
Norton Rose Fulbright was awarded 2022 Global Legal Advisor of the Year by IJGlobal and ranked in Band 1 by Chambers and Partners for Global: Multi-Jurisdictional Projects & Energy: Mining & Minerals.
With the transition to a green economy, critical minerals are the building blocks that will sustain economic growth and are key inputs for priority supply chains. The forum brought together leaders to discuss investment and financing opportunities for Canadian critical mineral junior mining projects that extract critical minerals used in electric vehicles, batteries, and solar panels, as well as defence and aerospace technology. The Consul General of Canada in New York, Tom Clark, gave opening remarks that led into keynote speeches by the Canadian Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson (virtually), John Gallagher of Cerberus Capital Management and Divya Shah of Canada Infrastructure Bank. The conference welcomed an audience of more than 120 institutional investors, commercial lenders, a delegation of 18 mining companies, OEMs, and key players in the downstream battery supply chain.
“Canada produces more than 60 minerals and metals and is a leading producer of many critical minerals needed to produce batteries for EVs. Our government has set aside C$4 billion of incentives to increase the supply of responsibly sourced critical minerals,” said Alison Babbitt, Norton Rose Fulbright’s Canadian Co-Head of ESG. “We are thrilled to partner with our US colleagues, bringing together a leading cross-border team to host this forum and facilitate relationship building in this important area and to ensure future sustainability as we transition to a clean energy economy.”
“Canada is the only country in the Western Hemisphere with all of the minerals needed to produce batteries for electric vehicles,” commented Norton Rose Fulbright’s US Head of Mining, Steve Suzzan. “There is an enormous value proposition in the collaboration of key players within the North American critical minerals sector. Our cross-border team based across Canada and the US were honoured and thrilled to host this impressive forum.”
Across six sessions, panelists at the forum discussed sources of capital, how to access incentives, infrastructure investments and private sector funding, and ways to overcome challenges in North America’s critical minerals sector. Topics included resilient and sustainable critical mineral supply chains that partner with and support indigenous communities, collaboration with upstream supply chains such as automotive EV batteries, solar panels, wind turbines and semiconductors, ambitions to develop North American processing capacity, and the impacts recycling technology can have on the circular nature of the industry, among a host of other perspectives. Norton Rose Fulbright associate Laura Konkel moderated one of the panels.
Norton Rose Fulbright was awarded 2022 Global Legal Advisor of the Year by IJGlobal and ranked in Band 1 by Chambers and Partners for Global: Multi-Jurisdictional Projects & Energy: Mining & Minerals.