Canada is entering a pivotal era, one in which leadership in

critical minerals

will determine our economic resilience and national security as global supply chains shift away from dependence on

China

.

Nickel

is at the centre of this race and one of the resources in which Canada can once again become a global leader. The federal government’s referral of the Crawford Project to the Major Projects Office makes it clear that Ottawa understands the importance of what is unfolding in northeastern Ontario.

The Timmins Nickel District is emerging as Canada’s next critical minerals corridor, a development with echoes of Sudbury, Ont.’s rise a century ago. But this opportunity will not realize itself. It will take coordinated action and a focus on building out Canadian supply chains.

The Crawford Project hosts one of the world’s largest nickel deposits and sits at the heart of a district capable of anchoring a truly Canadian critical minerals supply chain. Crawford could generate more than $70 billion in gross domestic product (GDP) and support over 180,000 person-years of employment over its lifespan, according to an independent analysis.

Construction alone will create thousands of jobs, followed by approximately 1,000 full-time positions once the mine is operating. And this is just the beginning. Crawford is only one nickel mine in a region that has the potential to host many more. Canada is also uniquely endowed with advanced-stage, large-scale, low-carbon nickel projects in Quebec and British Columbia.

Our equity partnership with Taykwa Tagamou Nation and our own-source revenue agreements with Wabun Tribal Council demonstrate how Indigenous leadership and ownership can be embedded in major projects from day one.

Coupled with our patented in-process tailings carbonation system, which is expected to make Crawford one of Canada’s largest permanent carbon storage sites, we are showing that large-scale resource development can advance climate goals and community prosperity at the same time.

This is the model for how responsible mining and long-term economic value can move forward together and demonstrates how profitability can be built on a foundation of partnership and sustainability.

The potential is clear, but potential alone is not a plan.

If Canada wants to capture the full value found in Ontario’s critical minerals corridor, the nickel industry must act together. Other countries are not waiting. Indonesia has already reshaped the global market through a massive state-backed build-out. China controls nearly 80 per cent of global processing capacity and continues to extend its reach across every stage of the supply chain.

If Canada continues to approach this sector as a collection of separate nickel projects with no shared purpose, we will be competing for the edges of a market that others are defining.

There is a different path, and it starts with coordination across the entire Canadian nickel sector.

Every time nickel leaves Canada to be processed elsewhere, the value from every subsequent supply chain step goes with it. Our industry must coordinate on domestic processing so each stage of the supply chain creates the conditions for the next stage to be built here at home.

Joint efforts to attract foreign companies to produce precursor and cathode materials for electric vehicles or stainless and alloy steels for aerospace, defence and a wide range of industries would keep more of that value in Canada. None of this requires a formal structure. It requires industry leaders to agree that building domestic capacity is both a national interest and a commercial advantage.

The same is true internationally. Canadian companies that show up separately look like individual projects, but when they show up together, they look like a strategic solution to geopolitical issues in global supply chains.

This all calls for a step that has been missing: the Canadian nickel industry needs to coordinate our efforts so that producers, processors, Indigenous partners and downstream users can speak to each other and to governments with a coherent sense of direction. It does not need to be formal, but it does need to exist. Without industry-wide coordination, we risk building a critical minerals corridor that never becomes a supply chain.

Sudbury anchored Canada’s industrial rise in the 20th century. The Timmins Nickel District can anchor the country’s economic sovereignty and national security in the 21st century. The minerals, partnerships and demand are here.

What we need now is an industry willing to act together to ensure that nickel is both mined in Canada and becomes the foundation for supply chains that create wealth for all Canadians.

  • The man behind nation-building nickel project has spent decades waiting for this moment
  • Canada has the critical minerals the world needs, but there isn’t a ‘cookie cutter’ approach to getting them out: Hodgson

Mark Selby is chief executive of Canada Nickel Co. Inc.