Canada’s Five Nation-Building Mining Projects: Copper, Nickel, Graphite, Tungsten, and associated metals
- Peyton Baird
- Nov 16
- 4 min read
4 minute read - Published 15:30 AM EST, Monday, November 17
This article was authored by Peyton Baird of witan nook.Â
In an era of intensifying global competition for critical minerals, the Canadian government has identified 13 flagship projects under its Major Projects Office (MPO) initiative to fast-track developments deemed essential to national economic security and the clean-energy transition. Five of these are mining ventures targeting copper, nickel, graphite, tungsten, and associated metals - commodities vital to electric vehicles, renewable infrastructure, defense applications, and advanced manufacturing. Designation on the MPO list grants these projects accelerated federal permitting, coordinated provincial-federal reviews, priority access to strategic funding, and enhanced support for Indigenous partnerships. Collectively, the initial tranche of MPO projects is projected to drive more than $60 billion in new investment while creating tens of thousands of jobs.
Canada's Major Projects Office | Canada.ca
Located 65 km west of Flin Flon, Saskatchewan, in the historic Flin Flon greenstone belt, the McIlvenna Bay copper mine project is approximately 50 percent complete, with underground development progressing rapidly and first production still targeted for mid-2026. Benefits from its designation under Canada’s Major Projects Office, including streamlined federal environmental reviews and eligibility for Strategic Innovation Fund grants, have solidified a final investment decision expected in early 2026, while Saskatchewan’s Critical Minerals Processing Investment Incentive provides additional support. Once operational, McIlvenna Bay will produce approximately 34.5 million pounds of copper and 58.6 million pounds of zinc annually over an 18-year mine life, supporting domestic smelting in Quebec, and creating 400 direct jobs.
Foran Mining’s McIlvenna Bay Project | Mining Weekly
Situated in central New Brunswick, roughly 100 km northwest of Fredericton, the Sisson tungsten-molybdenum project received its environmental approvals in 2017 and is now updating its 2013 feasibility study with fresh financing from Natural Resources Canada and the U.S. Defense Production Act Title III program, paving the way for construction as early as 2026. Fast-tracked regulatory coordination through the Major Projects Office and renewed equity agreements with local First Nations are expected to materially shorten the timeline to production. When operational, Sisson will tap one of the largest undeveloped tungsten deposits outside China, delivering strategic metals vital for defense, aerospace, and clean-energy applications, diversifying New Brunswick’s economy, and sustaining approximately 300 long-term jobs.
Location of the Sisson Tungsten-Molybdenum Project | Northcliff Resources
The Crawford nickel-cobalt-chromium project, located 42 km north of Timmins, Ontario, in the emerging Timmins Nickel District, has advanced permitting nearing completion, with construction targeted for late 2026 following a positive feasibility study. Coordinated federal-provincial oversight and Indigenous co-development agreements under the Major Projects Office framework are accelerating progress on this cornerstone initiative. Crawford is set to become one of the world’s largest nickel operations and Canada’s largest carbon-storage facility through its proprietary In-Process Tailings carbonation technology, generating an estimated $70 billion in GDP, $16 billion in federal and provincial taxes, $5 billion in federal and provincial taxes, and 185,000 person-years of employment over a 40-plus-year mine life while anchoring a new critical-minerals corridor in northern Ontario.
Nouveau Monde Graphite is developing a fully integrated graphite operation that combines the Matawinie open-pit mine in Saint-Michel-des-Saints, Quebec (120 km north of Montreal) with a downstream battery-material refinery in Bécancour. The project received Quebec provincial authorization in 2021 and formal consent from the Atikamekw First Nation in 2024. Detailed engineering is now complete, construction is scheduled to start in Q1 2026, and commercial production is expected by mid-2028. Inclusion on the federal Major Projects Office list has provided regulatory certainty for the entire value chain and opened access to up to $1.8 billion in potential financing support. When fully operational, the project will deliver North America’s only fully integrated source of battery-grade spherical graphite, producing 103,000 tonnes per year of high-purity anode material powered entirely by hydroelectricity and mined with a zero-emission fleet. At peak, it will employ more than 1,000 workers and firmly establish Quebec as a leading global supplier of electric-vehicle battery components.
Matawinie Graphite Mine Site | Nouveau Monde
The Red Chris copper-gold mine, located 80 km south of Dease Lake in northwestern British Columbia’s Golden Triangle, currently produces more than 85 million pounds of copper annually from open-pit operations. Its proposed underground block-cave expansion received an amended environmental certificate in 2025, with a final investment decision expected before year-end. Federal and provincial fast-tracking through the Major Projects Office, combined with deep co-management arrangements with the Tahltan Nation, will facilitate the transition to underground mining and a significant reduction in emissions intensity. The expansion will extend mine life by more than a decade, create 1,800 construction jobs, boost British Columbia’s copper output by approximately 15 percent, and help meet surging demand for electrification and artificial-intelligence infrastructure while securing Canadian supply to allied markets.
Red Chris Block Cave Mine Site | Mining News North
Taken together, these five Nation-Building projects represent more than extraction - they are foundational pieces of a deliberate strategy to build resilient, sovereign supply chains for the minerals that will power the 21st-century economy. By combining regulatory efficiency and environmental innovation, Canada is positioning itself as the preferred ethical and reliable supplier in an increasingly contested global market.
This article was authored by Peyton Baird of witan nook.Â