Nova Scotia Quietly Enters Critical Minerals Race: Strategic or Symbolic?

Highlights

• Nova Scotia secures nearly $1 million in federal funding to assess critical mineral potential and build supply chains
• Province identifies 16 critical minerals, including copper, lithium, and rare earth elements for clean energy development
• Strategic initiative aims to support Canada’s net-zero emissions goal by 2050 through critical mineral exploration

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Taryn Grant’s (opens in a new tab) report for CBC News (opens in a new tab) highlights Nova Scotia’s cautious steps toward developing a critical minerals industry supported by federal funding. The province has signed agreements with Natural Resources Canada, securing just under $1 million over three years for projects to assess its critical mineral potential and build supply chains. This effort aligns with Canada’s broader strategy to harness critical minerals for clean energy technologies like EV batteries, solar panels, and wind turbines, which are crucial to the national and provincial goals of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.

Nova Scotia has identified 16 critical minerals, including copper, lithium, and rare earth elements, focusing on their potential for exploration, supply-demand imbalances, and strategic opportunities. However, details about the province’s agreements, specific projects, or actionable timelines remain vague, with officials deferring further disclosures until discussions with federal partners are complete.

Missing Information?

Significantly needed for this piece to truly inform would be a series of unanswered questions. For example, what’s the scale of the investment?

The $1 million funding seems modest compared to the scale of investments required to develop critical mineral industries and infrastructure, raising questions about Nova Scotia’s actual capacity to compete in this sector.

And what about project details?  The lack of specificity about targeted exploration sites or partnerships with private stakeholders limits understanding of how these initiatives will translate into tangible outcomes.  Finally, there are those environmental and social externality factors. There’s no mention of how the province will balance mining development with environmental safeguards or community impacts, which are critical concerns in resource extraction.

Assumptions and Biases

The article assumes that Nova Scotia can play a significant role in Canada’s critical mineral strategy despite its limited historical production and modest funding. It leans on optimistic language about the province’s participation in a “national supply chain” without critically evaluating whether the funding and scope are sufficient to realize this ambition.

Rare Earth Exchanges Takeaway

Nova Scotia’s move into the critical minerals sector is a step forward but appears more symbolic than strategic at this stage. While aligning with federal priorities for clean energy and net-zero emissions, the scale of funding and lack of detailed plans raise doubts about whether the province can become a meaningful player in this competitive industry. Without clearer commitments and strategies, the initiative risks being overshadowed by larger and better-resourced provinces.

Nova Scotia, Canada, has many potential rare earth element (REE) deposits not cited,  including:

Northern Nova Scotia

In the 1970s, anomalous REE occurrences were discovered in peralkaline granite intrusions and volcanic rocks. More recent exploration has found new REE occurrences, including surface exposures with REE concentrations greater than 1%. 

Debert Lake

This deposit has a rich REE portfolio and is located near a power grid, urban centers, and a deep-sea shipping port. Drill core and outcrop samples indicate that it has the highest ratio of heavy to light REEs in North America. 

Sydney Basin

Bituminous coals in the Sydney Basin contain REE dispersed in illite clay and macerals or concentrated in fossil apatite and resistate minerals. 

Nova Scotia’s Critical Minerals Strategy (opens in a new tab) aims to guide the province toward a net-zero economy. The strategy includes a list of critical minerals, which is reviewed and revised every two years.  See page 11 for critical minerals in the province.

Mineral List

• Antimony: Used in batteries and electronics. The high mineral potential across the province, including past producers, historical occurrences, and new discoveries.
• Cobalt: Used in lithium-ion batteries, essential to energy storage and electric vehicles. Various early-stage projects indicate further potential of previously underexplored areas occurring with copper in IOCG (iron oxide copper gold) deposits in northern Nova Scotia and southern Cape Breton.
• Copper: Used in numerous electrical applications, including infrastructure to upgrade existing power grids for green energy and electric vehicles. Copper often occurs with other critical minerals, including cobalt and lithium. Several prospects, historic properties, and past producers exist across northern Nova Scotia and southern Cape Breton.
• Graphite: Used as an anode material in batteries and non-petroleum-based lubricants. Graphite is underexplored in the province, and there is potential for deposits in northern Nova Scotia and southern Cape Breton.
• Germanium Gallium: These are byproducts from other critical minerals, such as zinc and copper. These elements are used in semiconductors for various computing technologies, including energy efficiency applications. Gallium is also used in solar panels. Potential exists across Nova Scotia with other critical mineral deposits or through waste recovery.
• Indium: Used in semiconductors and thermal regulation in energy efficiency applications. Additionally used as an alloy with anti-corrosion properties. High potential exists in the province, including past producing tin-indium deposits, zinc deposits, and waste recovery.
• Lithium: Primary component in lithium batteries, essential to energy storage and electric vehicles. Strong potential exists in the southwest and eastern areas of the province with recent resource drilling and new discoveries being made.
• Manganese: Alloy for infrastructure resilience and as a cathode material in lithium batteries. High potential exists across the province.
• Molybdenum: Alloy for steel hardening, which reduces maintenance, replacement, and carbon emission costs for infrastructure, including green energy. The high mineral potential across the entire province, including past producers in southern Cape Breton.
• Niobium: Used in semiconductors, including energy efficiency applications, and as an alloy with anti-corrosion properties. The potential exists across NovaScotia, often associated with other critical minerals such as tin and lithium.
• Rare Earth Elements (REE): A suite of metals often occurring together or as by-products with other critical minerals. Primary uses include permanent magnets in electric motors for electric vehicles and wind turbines. Potential in Nova Scotia exists across the province, and REE has been underexplored.
• Tantalum: Used primarily in electric components, including energy efficiency applications. It often occurs with other critical minerals, such as lithium. The potential exists in southern and eastern Nova Scotia, and the element has been underexplored.
• Tin: Multiple uses, including anticorrosion for infrastructure resiliency and lithium batteries. Often occurs with lithium, indium, niobium, and other critical minerals as the primary product. Strong opportunities exist in southwest Nova Scotia and elsewhere in the province, including past producers, historical properties, waste recovery, and new discoveries.
• Tungsten: Alloy for metal hardening to reduce maintenance, replacement, and carbon emission costs for infrastructure, including green energy. Strong mineral potential exists across southwest and eastern Nova Scotia.
• Zinc: Alloy for anti-corrosive properties (galvanizing) for infrastructure resilience and new battery developments. Former producers and near-production deposits and new discoveries are found in central a northern Nova Scotia and southern Cape Breton.