{"id":768695,"date":"2026-06-29T11:18:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T11:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/768695\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T11:18:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T11:18:10","slug":"ottawas-investments-in-n-w-t-mine-will-put-cards-in-our-hands-energy-minister-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/768695\/","title":{"rendered":"Ottawa\u2019s investments in N.W.T. mine \u2018will put cards in our hands\u2019 energy minister says"},"content":{"rendered":"

The federal government is spending up to $50 million to help develop a mine in the Northwest Territories that will, in part, supply critical minerals to the United States \u2014 which Canada\u2019s minister responsible says puts the cards in the country\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n

The T\u0142\u0131\u0328ch\u01eb government and Fortune Minerals will use the money to build an access road to the NICO mine site near What\u00ec, N.W.T. The mine is expected to extract things like cobalt, gold, bismuth and copper.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Fortune Minerals responded to a proposal to supply bismuth to the U.S. Department of War<\/a> under a program aimed at securing domestic supply chains for critical minerals.<\/p>\n

It comes at a time when Canada and U.S. relations are tense, but some see it as an opportunity to not only have the country stand its ground, but even be a stepping stone towards better, future trade deals.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe develop our own critical minerals and we control our own critical minerals,\u201d federal Energy and Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson told CBC News on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re happy to work with other sources of capital, but we will develop our critical minerals and we will decide where they go. And they will go to our allies, including the United States. And that will put cards in our hands.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hodgson also pointed back to when President Donald Trump said he wants Ukraine to supply the United States with rare earth minerals.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe can never let that happen here,\u201d said Hodgson. “In a world where it’s increasingly volatile and insecure, we need the best hand we can have. The very best cards we have are critical minerals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mine will help Canada establish a ‘secure supply chain’ project’s CEO says<\/p>\n

President and CEO of Fortune Minerals, Robin Goad, told CBC News his mine would do a lot more than benefit America\u2019s war department.<\/p>\n

He said other resources that Fortune Minerals would extract, like cobalt, could help create rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre there military applications for bismuth? Yes there are,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are also technology applications.\u201d<\/p>\n

Goad said there are essential industries that require the products that his mine is going to produce. And he wants the mine to be an example of how Canada can supply those materials.<\/p>\n

While Goad also said Canada\u2019s defence department has not approached Fortune Minerals the same way the U.S. has, he\u2019s open to supplying them too.<\/p>\n

And more broadly, on the heels of a shrinking mining sector in the Northwest Territories, Goad said his project fills a void and can bring both jobs and infrastructure to the N.W.T.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need more mining operations in the Northwest Territories,\u201d he said. \u201cCanada needs a secure supply chain of the metals that are needed in all kinds of new technologies.\u201d<\/p>\n

‘Look, we’re doing more\u2019<\/p>\n

Christian Leuprecht is an expert in security and defence who teaches at the Royal Military College of Canada and Queen\u2019s University. He said Canada has a chance to leverage its resources for its own interests.<\/p>\n

\"Christian<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is one way for Canada to show, \u2018Look, we’re doing more.’ And so now we also expect a favourable free trade agreement in return,\u2019\u201d says Christian Leuprecht, an expert in security and defence. \u201cSo these are all part of a changing, grand bargain between Canada and the United States.\u201d (Submitted by Christian Leuprecht)<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of our allies and partners wish they were blessed with natural resources the way Canada is, so let’s use them for strategic benefit,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Leuprecht said this kind of investment is part of a much larger story that could come with more long-term benefits and potentially help amend relations between countries.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is one way for Canada to show, \u2018Look, we’re doing more.’ And so now we also expect a favourable free trade agreement in return,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cSo these are all part of a changing, grand bargain between Canada and the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The federal government is spending up to $50 million to help develop a mine in the Northwest Territories…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":768696,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194295],"tags":[49,48,2663,8411,273140,912,20739,273139,8408,772],"class_list":["post-768695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ottawa","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-and-the-united-states","tag-critical-minerals","tag-fortune-minerals","tag-northwest-territories","tag-ottawa","tag-robin-goad","tag-supply-chains","tag-united-states"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/768695","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=768695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/768695\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/768696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=768695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=768695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=768695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}