Canada has fired the starter’s gun on a new phase of ally-led critical minerals development, unveiling the first slate of projects under its G7-backed Critical Minerals Production Alliance (CMPA).
Announced in Toronto alongside G7 energy and environment ministers, the package mobilises public and private capital, secures offtakes, and introduces national-security tools to stockpile key materials, signalling an assertive shift from policy talk to project execution.
What Canada Announced
- 26 new investments, partnerships and measures designed to unlock C$6.4 billion of project activity across graphite, rare earth elements (REEs), scandium and other critical inputs.
- Allied participation from nine countries: the US, Australia, Japan, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Luxembourg, and Ukraine.
- Government of Canada offtakes with Nouveau Monde Graphite (graphite) and **Rio Tinto **(scandium) to anchor bankability.
- Release of a Roadmap to Promote Standards-Based Markets under the G7 Critical Minerals Action Plan (CMAP), a push for transparent pricing, high ESG standards, and trusted provenance.
- Up to C$20.2 million earmarked for R&D and innovation with international partners.
A National Security Lens
Ottawa intends to use Canada’s Defence Production Act to stockpile critical minerals—a powerful signal that these materials are now treated like strategic commodities, not just exports.
The move aims to:
- Strengthen domestic capabilities for defence and advanced manufacturing.
- Mobilise and protect Canadian production for Canada and allied supply chains.
- Support NATO deterrence and expand transatlantic capacity.
- Reinforce Arctic sovereignty and resilience against supply shocks.
Why it Matters, and Why Now
Global supply chains for magnet metals (NdPr, Dy/Tb), graphite anodes, and speciality alloys have been repeatedly exposed by export controls, tariffs and geopolitical frictions.
Canada’s CMPA is designed to de-risk upstream and midstream chokepoints, moving promising projects from studies into construction with offtakes, co-investment and permitting acceleration.
For investors, the takeaway is simple: policy is becoming capital, and capital is now being deployed to actual projects.
Slots into the US–Australia Framework
This announcement dovetails neatly into the broader allied push we’ve been tracking, particularly the US–Australia Framework for Critical Minerals and Rare Earths, which commits both nations to co-financing, permitting acceleration, stockpiling, and standards-based pricing.
Together, these initiatives point to a coordinated ally-shoring of critical minerals where Canada, Australia and the US become complementary hubs for mining, separation and downstream processing.
(For background, see our explainer on the US–Australia framework.)
Implications for ASX Investors
- North American exposure is a premium: ASX developers with Canadian or US assets, especially in graphite, REEs, scandium, gallium/germanium by-products, may find larger, cheaper pools of capital, faster approvals, and offtake pathways as CMPA projects line up.
- Standards-based markets: Expect growing emphasis on traceability, ESG verification and non-market pricing safeguards. Developers already aligning with these standards could gain a cost-of-capital edge.
- Stockpiling as a demand backstop: Government purchases can underwrite early volumes and de-risk first-mover plants, improving debt capacity.
- Follow the offtakes: Canada’s direct offtake roles with NMG and Rio Tinto are a template; bankability improves when governments sit in the buyer seat.
What to Watch Next
- Project lists and deal terms: Which specific CMPA projects close financing in the next 6–12 months? How big are the offtakes and who sits on the other side?
- Permitting reforms at federal/provincial levels, particularly for graphite processing and REE separation.
- Stockpile build cadence: Material types, tonnages and the mechanism for drawdown/replenishment.
- Global coordination into 2026 events: IEA Ministerial and PDAC 2026, both flagged as milestones for expanded announcements.
Bottom Line
With the CMPA, Canada is moving from strategy to shovels, using sovereign tools, offtakes, co-investment, standards and stockpiles, to accelerate critical-minerals capacity alongside trusted partners.
For ASX names with North American footprints or credible pathways to supply allied markets, this is another strong signal that policy tailwinds are turning into real, bankable demand.
