The following is the text of a speech delivered by Teck Resources President and CEO Jonathan Price on October 10 in Ottawa at an event jointly hosted by the Business Council of Canada and the American Chamber of Commerce in Canada on Strengthening Critical Minerals Security. 

(Check against delivery)

Thank you, Rick.

Before I begin, this is Ottawa, so I can’t help but reflect on the interesting political times both Americans and Canadians find ourselves in. An election race underway in the US, the looming question of an early election here in Canada. And of course the one priority concern that I must assume unites us across both sides of the border.

Getting ahold of Taylor Swift tickets this fall.

But what I’m here to talk about today is the criticality of minerals to both our economy and our security.

Not so long ago, talking about mining and the economy might have caused some eyes to glaze over, and people to start discreetly scrolling on their phones.

But lately, things have changed or at least I hope they have.

Because now, when the topic of critical minerals comes up, people’s ears perk up. They really listen.

As my daughters might say, mining is ‘lit’ right now – which they assure me means it’s trendy and exciting.

After nearly a quarter century working in this industry, it’s nice they finally think my career isn’t entirely irrelevant.

Because people increasingly recognize that critical minerals sit upstream of virtually every sector that will build our future.

That includes clean energy, advanced computing, green transportation, and defence applications.

Increased demand means more opportunity for Canada and the United States to produce, process, and recycle critical minerals that the world needs.

But opportunities inevitably come with challenges.

Challenges with being able to drive the needed investment and growth in the North American mining sector. Challenges with competitiveness and productivity, and challenges with ensuring the security of the critical minerals supply chain in the Western world, and particularly in North America.

But there is a path forward to tackle these challenges, and at the same time boost security, create jobs, and address climate change.

But first, some background on Teck. As you may know, we recently completed a major transformation of our company.

We divested our steelmaking coal business, transforming our portfolio to become a pure play, energy transition metals company, focused on copper and zinc.

We have operations and projects across the Americas, including Canada, the United States, Chile, Peru, and Mexico.

That includes the Highland Valley Copper mine in BC, Canada’s largest copper mine.

And our Trail smelting and refining complex in southern B.C., where we’re also advancing what could become Western North America’s largest EV battery recycling facility.

In northwest Alaska, we operate the Red Dog mine, which is not just the largest critical minerals mine in the U.S., but also the largest zinc mine in the world.

And we process the metals we mine in Alaska at our smelter in B.C. for export to customers across the U.S.

It’s a powerful example of how the critical minerals supply chain is stronger because of Canada-US economic integration.

So, as a Canadian-based critical minerals champion, we know well the need to work together to strengthen the industry and grow capacity across North America.

But I mentioned challenges earlier, and there are three big ones I want to highlight today.

The first major challenge is that our critical mineral supply chains today are heavily dependent on one nation, China.

In fact, the more accurate description is that in critical minerals, China is dominant.

And the numbers are staggering.

China controls in the range of 40 to over 90 per cent of global processing capacity for many critical minerals, from copper to cobalt.

For comparison, a recent Public Policy Forum report highlighted that OPEC at its peak controlled about 40% of global oil supply. With just that level of market control OPEC’s oil embargo in the ‘70s led to massive economic upheaval in the West.

Inflation jumped, unemployment more than doubled and the global economy moved into a protracted recession.

With critical minerals increasingly forming the backbone of not just the energy industry, but also technology and defence, that kind of intense concentration creates material risk…

For our shared economic health, and for national security.

And we’ve seen this risk demonstrated already.

Last year, China restricted gallium and germanium exports, of which it controls 98 per cent and 60 per cent of global output, respectively.

Now those minerals may not be household names – but they are essential for semi-conductors, electronic devices, and a variety of defence applications.

With the increasing necessity of metals, it is clear that diversifying supply chains is now critical to both our economy and national security.

But that leads us to the next big challenge – directing the capital needed to invest and build those secure supply chains.

According to the International Energy Agency, the required global investment in mining between now and 2040 could be as high as over one trillion dollars… particularly if we want to meet our net zero and energy security ambitions.

But so far, the most ambitious investments to help close that critical minerals gap are not coming from western nations.

In Canada, for example, the government has committed $4 billion over 8 years to support critical mineral development.

This is a positive step, but to put that in perspective, in 2023 alone, China invested $20 billion in mining and metals, mostly to expand their critical minerals access abroad.

In commodities like nickel, Chinese investment over the past decade has completely upended the industry…placing China in a dominant position and sidelining western supply.

They can flood the market, drive down prices, and make it impossible for companies to justify investing in new supply when there’s no hope of a reasonable return – which keeps the playing field tilted for their benefit.

There are also new entrants like Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, which has over $1 trillion in assets under management.

They are actively investing in the industry, with the goal of supporting Saudi’s 2030 vision of making that country a critical minerals processing hub.

In contrast, in North America, while governments have invested in downstream manufacturing, we lag in support for upstream mines and mineral processing.

For example, Canadian governments have invested billions into EV manufacturing, including four EV battery factories.

But for context – as the Mining Association of Canada has pointed out – to meet metal demand from just those four factories… we would need 15 new mines and a significant expansion of our smelting and refining capacity.

Similarly in the U.S., while the Inflation Reduction Act has been a game-changer for incentivising investment in green technologies, this has been targeted downstream, rather than directly into new sources of critical minerals supply.

Support for car and battery plants absent support for the mines needed to supply them… is like starting a farm to table restaurant…without bothering to plant the farm.

If we are going to have any chance of truly diversifying the critical minerals supply chain… it will require more ambitious and strategic government support to increase mining and mineral processing.

In order to unlock the tremendous resource potential that exists in North America.

Which leads me to the third challenge – permitting.

I know nothing gets an Ottawa crowd more excited than regulatory process, so I saved the best for last.

We need to collectively figure out how to overcome the lengthy and often unpredictable permitting processes that can and have deterred new mining investments in Canada and the U.S.

That does not mean lowering the social and environmental standards that are essential to creating partnerships with communities and Indigenous Peoples and enabling our industry to grow and operate.

But we need to do it faster.

On average, it takes 15 years – 15 years! – to build a single copper mine today.

By comparison it took It took only four-and-a-half years to build the Trans-Canada Railway, five to build the St. Lawrence Seaway and putting a man on the moon – eight years.

So it feels like we can do better.

Canada has a proud history of building bold infrastructure projects to drive the country forward… Growing our critical minerals sector is firmly in that same category.

But cumbersome regulatory processes make us less competitive, and less attractive to necessary investment.

This isn’t exclusive to Canada. Challenges with red tape and long timelines exist as well in the US and beyond.

I mentioned our Red Dog and Trail facilities as an example of economic integration working for both Canada and the US, but there’s also more we could do with each other and our allies in Europe and the G7.

To reduce trade barriers, encourage investment and collaborate on critical minerals.

There are two excellent opportunities on the horizon: The Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement will be reviewed in 2026. And before then, Canada will assume the Presidency of the 2025 G7 Leaders’ summit.

Our goal should be for both Canada and the U.S. to support collective critical minerals development, and strengthen our closely connected supply chains and global competitiveness.

Now I’ve talked a lot about the need for secure supply chains – but there’s another aspect to the opportunity. One that may resonate in a city that eats, sleeps, and breathes politics:

The economy.

Mining jobs are “first-dollar” jobs. Meaning those paychecks flow through the economy to spur even greater spinoff jobs with suppliers, contractors, construction.

Every mining job generates about four jobs within the economy.

New mines mean major investments in infrastructure and equipment, new skilled trades jobs, technology, and innovation… which are all key drivers of improved productivity.

And in a nation like Canada where studies about low productivity have been a growth industry for a generation, mining can be a big part of the solution.

This means investing in the energy transition, supply chain security, and creating high-paying, highly skilled jobs.

If we want powerful paychecks…we need the courage to make powerful investments in industries like mining.

Now I’ve covered a lot of ground. But here’s the bottom line.

We need to be realistic about the challenges before us. China will be aggressive in continuing to consolidate its dominance in critical minerals.

To compete and win globally, Canada and the US need bold industrial policy that prioritizes critical minerals…

Ambitious, targeted government incentives and investment to support growing our domestic critical minerals capacity.

We need better, more efficient permitting processes that can help build new mines faster.

And we need Canada and the U.S. to work together as we have in times past to ensure a more distributed and secure global critical minerals market.

We’ve done it before. I mentioned OPEC earlier. Working together, Canada and the U.S. helped lessen OPEC’s grip on the market, while boosting the domestic industries in both nations, creating jobs and prosperity.

And that means we can do it again.

But we must recognize the urgency and severity of the challenge we face.

We need to recognize that growing our critical minerals sector is about more than just EVs or iPhones.

It’s about economic security, it’s about energy security, and it is about national security.

Teck stands ready to help capture the generational opportunity before us… to deliver the critical minerals the world needs to grow, advance, and make life better.

But we must work together across North America and Western nations to take action now to ensure our access to these essential resources for the long term.

Thank you.