By Makiko Yamazaki
TOKYO, June 26 (Reuters) – Canada and Japan are working on a range of mining projects, including potential joint stockpiling, Canada’s trade minister told Reuters, as Japan moves to diversify supplies of critical minerals and reduce dependence on China.
Ottawa and Tokyo are in talks on options for cooperation including joint mining projects, off-take agreements and stockpiling arrangements for minerals such as graphite and gallium, International Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu said in an interview.
“We’re offering Japan that avenue to do more with Canada in terms of critical minerals,” he said.
He cited as an example of partnership an off-take agreement between Nouveau Monde Graphite and Panasonic for graphite, a key material for batteries.
Sidhu is in Tokyo leading Canada’s trade mission, with a delegation of roughly 300 members from nearly 180 companies and organisations – the North American country’s largest of its kind in the Asia-Pacific.
Japan, along with Western governments and manufacturers, has been seeking to secure supplies of rare-earth minerals to reduce dependency on China, the world’s dominant rare earths producer and supplier.
In February, China prohibited exports of so-called dual-use items to 20 Japanese entities, which it said supply Japan’s military. That came after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi angered Beijing by saying Tokyo would act in the event of an attack on democratically governed Taiwan, which China claims.
Sidhu’s trip to Japan is also focused on broader energy cooperation. Among the companies he has met so far is Mitsubishi Corp, which he said is “very interested in doing more in Canada in terms of investments”.
Mitsubishi is a key investor in the LNG Canada project in Kitimat, British Columbia, the first major liquefied natural gas facility in North America with direct access to the Pacific Coast.
(Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki; Editing by Christopher Cushing)