{"id":481239,"date":"2026-06-17T03:41:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T03:41:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/481239\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T03:41:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T03:41:16","slug":"ontario-signs-u-k-pact-to-advance-critical-minerals-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/481239\/","title":{"rendered":"Ontario signs U.K. pact to advance critical\u2011minerals strategy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Ford-fast-track-1024x683.webp\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1003777009\" style=\"width:505px;height:auto\" data-pagespeed-url-hash=\"269992805\" onload=\"pagespeed.CriticalImages.checkImageForCriticality(this);\"\/>Stephen Lecce, Minister of Energy and Mines of Ontario. Credit: THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Arlyn McAdorey <\/p>\n<p>Ontario has signed a statement of intent (SOI) with the United Kingdom to develop a critical-mineral supply chain. The province\u2019s minister of mines, Stephen Lecce, met with Chris McDonald, the U.K.\u2019s minister of industry, in London to pen the agreement.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Under the SOI, Ontario and the U.K. said they will work together to increase transatlantic investment and advance research in Ontario\u2019s critical-mineral sector. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis agreement solidifies Ontario\u2019s commitment to building secure supply chains that create jobs, attract investment and reduce reliance on unstable and adversarial foreign regimes,\u201d said Lecce.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A news release from the Ministry of Energy and Mines called access to critical minerals essential to economic and national security, positioning the agreement as a response to what the province described as \u201cChina\u2019s monopoly\u201d over rare earth metals, lithium and cobalt.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>McDonald said the agreement will increase investment into U.K. mining from both domestic and international sources.<\/p>\n<p>Darren Hazelwood, the CEO of Panther Metals, called the agreement \u201cgood news\u201d for British investors. \u201cOntario has the geology, infrastructure and mining expertise to play a pivotal role in meeting growing global demand.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Priya Tandon, the president of the Ontario Mining Association, added that \u201cthis partnership will reinforce Ontario\u2019s position as a global leader in responsibly produced minerals.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>With recent red-tape cuts and new investments, Ontario now ranks <a href=\"https:\/\/www.canadianminingjournal.com\/news\/ontario-crowned-canadas-top-mining-destination-second-place-worldwide\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">second globally<\/a> for mining attractiveness, according to the Fraser Institute \u2014 a status the province says underscores its responsibility to lead the critical\u2011minerals race.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stephen Lecce, Minister of Energy and Mines of Ontario. Credit: THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Arlyn McAdorey Ontario has signed a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":481240,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[138,219,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-481239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=481239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/481240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=481239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=481239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=481239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}