G7 Announces First Round of Investments in Critical Minerals

On Oct. 31, G7 Energy and Environment Ministers met in Toronto alongside industry partners to continue discussions focused on establishing standards-based markets for critical minerals, increasing investments in critical minerals projects, and promoting innovation across critical mineral supply chains. On the margins of the meeting, the G7 announced the first round of investments and partnerships under the Critical Minerals Production Alliance, which encompasses 26 new investments, partnerships and research initiatives that are expected to accelerate $6.4 billion of critical minerals projects.

Canada made energy security a key priority of its 2025 G7 presidency, which led to the creation of the G7 Critical Minerals Action Plan (CMAP) during the June G7 Leaders Summit in Kananaskis. The summit also welcomed the launch of the Critical Minerals Production Alliance as an effort to support critical minerals supply chains that are essential for defense, clean energy and advanced manufacturing. The Alliance comes as an effort to counter China’s dominance in the critical minerals supply chains. G7 Leaders are also focused on improving the traceability of minerals and stabilizing these supply chains, primarily following Russia’s war with Ukraine and China’s efforts to impose export controls on minerals and rare earth elements.

Overview of Announcement

The announcement under the Critical Minerals Production Alliance will: (1) mobilize public and private capital to accelerate critical mineral projects, focused on graphite, rare earth elements and scandium production; (2) secure offtake agreements and co-investments with nine allied countries and industry partners, including the G7 Member States as well as Luxembourg, Norway, Australia and Ukraine; (3) enter offtake arrangements between Canada and Nouveau Monde Graphite and Rio Tinto for graphite and scandium, respectively; and (4) release the Roadmap to Promote Standards-Based Markets for Critical Minerals, a key deliverable under the G7 Critical Minerals Action Plan (CMAP), as a direct follow-up to the June G7 Leaders’ Summit in Kananaskis, Alberta.

Canada’s Energy and Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson separately announced that Canada plans to amend its Defense Production Act to designate critical minerals as “essential” as Canada plans to launch its own critical minerals stockpiling effort, as well as support multilateral stockpiling efforts.

Top strategic investment and partnership projects announced by Canada include, but are not limited to:

• Nouveau Monde Graphite’s Matawinie Mine (Quebec): Offtake arrangements with Canada, Panasonic (Japan), Traxys (Luxembourg); investment support from Canada and Japan.
• Rio Tinto’s Scandium Production Plant (Quebec): $25 million equity-like royalty from Canada Growth Fund and offtake agreement with Canada; scaling demonstration facility to commercial production.​
• Ucore Rare Metals Inc. (Kingston, Ontario): Up to $36.3 million investment to scale rare earth processing (samarium and gadolinium); partnerships with customers in Germany and the United States, and feedstock procurement from Australia.​
• Torngat Metals’ Strange Lake (Quebec): Rare earths project with a technology collaboration agreement with Carester (France).​
• Vianode Synthetic Graphite Plant (St. Thomas, Ontario): Letters of interest for financing up to US$500 million (Canada, Germany); offtake agreement with GM (U.S.); export credit support up to US$300 million.​
• Northern Graphite (Quebec): Offtake/toll processing agreement with Alkeemia (Italy); pilot plant and technology support for purification in Canada, France and Italy.

Canada’s announcement also focused on G7 and allied partnerships and financing, including:

• UK Export Finance and Export Development Canada: Exploring co-financing for UK/Canada supply chain projects.​
• ENI (Italy): Investment in Canadian lithium and graphite projects, and recycling technologies for spent batteries/production waste.​
• Italy and Greenland Resources: MOU for molybdenum supply for European steel producers and evaluation by other Italian steel companies.​
• Canada-Australia Declaration: Policy, regulatory alignment and increased cooperation in project financing and supply chain resilience.

The G7 also announced a series of research and innovation initiatives, including but not limited to:

• Focus Graphite (Quebec): $14.1 million for electrothermal purification with Ukrainian and U.S. partners.​
• Northern Graphite and Rain Carbon Canada: $860,000 to turn leftover graphite from mining into high-quality battery anode material.​
• PH7 Technologies/York University: $900,000 to support an AI-driven metallurgical process for battery metal recovery, in partnership with Germany.​
• Telescope Innovations Corp.: $3.36 million for lithium-ion battery recycling/conversion; $3.04 million for low-cost lithium sulfide manufacture for solid-state batteries; UK collaboration for circular solutions.​
• Excir Works Corp.: $500,000 to expand recyclable metals through partnerships in the UK and Scotland.​
• NTwist Inc.: $500,000 for improved nickel production efficiency, partnering with Vale Europe (UK).

These announcements reflect G7 Leaders’ efforts to limit Chinese and/or Russian influence in global critical mineral supply chains, with the understanding that reduced reliance will take time and strategic investments. The G7’s focus on resilient supply chains for critical minerals also reflects Canada’s intention to promote its mineral wealth as a value-chain platform for global partners.

Some G7 members recognize that it may be impossible to completely decouple from China, with Secretary of Energy Chris Wright stating that the Trump administration is open to increasing business with China to displace Chinese imports from Russia and Iran. Secretary Wright also highlighted China’s large imports of natural gas and oil, which are primary exports of the United States, as potential areas for future cooperation between the United States and China, a point that was later echoed by President Trump after striking a deal with China on tariffs.

Next Steps

The G7’s focus on advancing secure critical minerals supply chains is an attempt to respond to China’s over extraction and dominance in the mineral processing space, especially for minerals key to defense, clean energy and advanced manufacturing sectors. The mobilization of $6.4 billion in collective investments will mitigate impacts on G7 or allied nations should China impose future restrictions on rare earth exports.

The Critical Mineral Production Alliance will be able to support both North American, European and Indo-Pacific industries through new mining projects, advanced processing facilities, research or recycling capabilities, which would not only safeguard domestic manufacturing but also domestic jobs. The long-term agreements and partnerships will also help increase private sector investment in sectors that are often seen as “too risky” and send a signal to global partners in Africa, Latin America and the Asia-Pacific that the G7 and its allied partners are focused on providing rules-based, high-standard supply chain investments that are a priority of some of the world’s leading democracies.

If you would like to learn more about the G7’s critical minerals programs or how to get involved in future global initiatives focused on critical minerals, Brownstein’s International team has extensive experience connecting industry leaders, U.S. businesses and foreign entities together and with the U.S. or foreign governments. Our team also holds extensive experience in the critical minerals space and deep expertise in connecting private industry leaders with the U.S. government on issues related to supply chain security, global investment strategies and other top issues that impact our clients.

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