{"id":153154,"date":"2025-09-18T18:21:06","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T18:21:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/153154\/"},"modified":"2025-09-18T18:21:06","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T18:21:06","slug":"why-copper-is-a-key-ingredient","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/153154\/","title":{"rendered":"Why copper is a key ingredient"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Two of the five \u201cnation-building\u201d projects on Ottawa\u2019s fast-track list are linked to a critical mineral that\u2019s growing in value.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Copper mine expansions in east-central Saskatchewan and northwest B.C. are included in Prime Minister Mark Carney\u2019s plan to boost the economy and \u201cstrengthen Canada\u2019s position as a global supplier of critical minerals for clean energy,\u201d according to a press release from the federal government.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Copper is a critical mineral used to transport electricity. It\u2019s found in homes, buildings, technology like phones or computers, and vehicles &#8212; especially EVs. Data centres that house artificial intelligence technology are driving the demand further.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Kevin Ansdell, a geology professor at the University of Saskatchewan, says more copper will be essential in the future as the world shifts to greener energy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cDemand for copper is not going down,\u201d Ansdell said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">But Canadian copper production has gone down in recent years, dropping nearly 25 per cent between 2014 and 2023, according to data from Natural Resources Canada. Globally, Canada had less than one per cent of copper reserves in 2023, while Chile had the largest share at 19 per cent.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The copper mine expansions named to Ottawa\u2019s list of projects won\u2019t make Canada a top global producer, according to industry experts, but they can help add to supply.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Foran Mining Corporation\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/foranmining.com\/projects\/mcilvenna-bay-project\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/foranmining.com\/projects\/mcilvenna-bay-project\/\">McIlvenna Bay project<\/a> is located in one of Canada\u2019s richest mineral belts. The Saskatchewan copper and zinc mine is expected to begin operation next year with the potential to expand in the future.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019re really looking at developing a mining district here. We know there\u2019s more copper in the ground,\u201d said Foran Mining\u2019s director of government relations, Carter Zazula. \u201cWe have a 140,000-hectare land package. We\u2019re still exploring it as we build.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Industry experts agree there are more copper deposits to be discovered across the country, but exploration costs money and it doesn\u2019t come with a guarantee.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The president of the Saskatchewan Mining Association, Pam Schwann, says the McIlveena Bay project is a positive step that could lead to future mining operations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019ve gone a long time without a new copper-zinc mine coming into production in Canada, let alone Saskatchewan,\u201d said Schwann. \u201cIt sends, I think, an important signal to global investors that Canada is back into building mines again. And that\u2019s a really important signal because we rely on international investment in the Canadian mining industry.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">B.C. and Ontario account for most of Canada\u2019s copper production. The expansion to the Red Chris Mine in northwest B.C. is expected to boost the country\u2019s annual copper production by more than 15 per cent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two of the five \u201cnation-building\u201d projects on Ottawa\u2019s fast-track list are linked to a critical mineral that\u2019s growing&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":153155,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[712,45,49,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-153154","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-apple-news","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-canada"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153154\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}