Why the once 'dirty' mining industry is now touted as key to 'clean' energy
Canada needs to invest $30 billion in mining to avert climate change disaster: Canadian Climate Institute
It's found in pencil leads, and also in vast quantities under the lakes and forest outside one small western Quebec town.
And in a familiar-sounding story, locals in the Outaouais region are against the massive disruption that's needed for a mining company to dig it up.
Graphite is one of six minerals the Canadian government has identified as a priority on its list of 31 critical minerals. Some climate change experts say we're going to need to dig up a whole lot more of it if we're to have any chance of staving off catastrophic global warming.
The U.S. Defence department is interested too, having invested $8.4 million US — alongside $4.9 million from the Canadian government — in Montreal-based Lomiko Metals, which wants to mine graphite around Lac Bélanger just west Duhamel, Que.
But the town's 500-odd inhabitants say not so fast.
"We've been pointed to as the source of the product for economic reasons, not because it's good for the environment but because it's close to roads and major centres like Montreal," said Duhamel Mayor David Pharand.
So why is the graphite in their backyard so critical?
The race to net zero
The answer involves batteries, China and climate change.
As part of Canada's race to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions, the last new gas-powered cars are scheduled to be sold in Canada in 2035, at which point all new vehicles are expected to be electric-powered.
That is going to require a lot of batteries.
China dominates this industry, leaving Canada and other western countries worried and racing to catch up.
Chinese companies manufacture about 80 per cent of all electric vehicle (EV) batteries worldwide. China also dominates the refining of the minerals involved in their manufacture, processing half the world's lithium, two-thirds of its cobalt and two-thirds of its graphite.
The Canadian government worries that its transition to net zero could be threatened if global demand outstrips supply for batteries, EVs and the components to manufacture them.
"Non-market economies are taking increasingly aggressive steps to further cement their control of critical minerals markets and achieve foreign policy goals," the government writes in its Critical Mineral's Strategy.
Last year, China introduced export controls on high-grade graphite after earlier restricting exports of gallium and germanium, two other critical minerals.
Much has been written about lithium and cobalt, the so-called "conflict minerals" linked to armed conflict, human rights abuses and child labour in places like the Democratic Republic of Congo. But other minerals are just as essential to manufacturing batteries, including the graphite that coats the copper foil of the anode.
Depending on how different technologies develop, the overall mineral demand from clean energy technologies could quadruple by 2040, according to the International Energy Agency, with demand for minerals used in batteries and EVs growing by up to 30 times.
Skeptics have warned against more mining, suggesting the focus should be on more public transport and bicycling instead of EVs.
But if Canada can position itself as a secure, stable supplier of critical minerals to a domestic EV and battery industry, the government sees economic opportunity.
The federal and provincial governments have committed tens of billions of dollars, reaching deals with Honda, GM, Volkswagen, Ford, Sweden's Northvolt and others.
But Canada has yet to match those investments in domestic mining of critical minerals, according to Jonathan Arnold, the acting director of the Clean Growth programme at the Canadian Climate Institute.
"We've seen significant public investments in the downstream side of the value chain," he said, referring to electric vehicle and battery manufacturing facilities. "It's more on the upstream side where we haven't seen that level of investment that Canada needs.
"Our research finds that the Canadian mining sector requires $30 billion in new capital investments to keep up with demand in the clean energy transition."
The government did earmark $4 billion for critical minerals in the 2022 budget, but that money "needs to start flowing today in order to meet that future demand," Arnold said.
Even as the government seeks to accelerate the clean energy transition, the demand for EVs has been lower than forecast — and that has investors hesitating.
Last week, Umicore announced it was delaying construction on its $2.76-billion battery materials plant in eastern Ontario following a "significant worsening" of the market's outlook.
The uncertainty around the EV market helps explain why Duhamel residents aren't yet convinced of the imperative for a mine in their backyard.
"It should be in areas where mining is already a source of economic [activity]," said Pharand, who is a spokesperson for an alliance of five western Quebec municipalities raising concerns about the project.
"Our economy is based on recreational tourism."
'Misconception about mining'
Better communication will be essential, Arnold said, if the government and mining companies are to convince people of the need to increase critical minerals production in time to meet net zero timelines.
"It's incredibly important that these projects have buy-in from local communities," said Arnold.
Lomiko Metals declined an interview request but told CBC in a statement that there is "a lot of misconception about the mining and processing of the minerals."
"The world needs our graphite, and North America must become energy self-sufficient," the company wrote. "Starting this year, the world will experience a shortage of graphite because we have been relying on projects abroad to meet the supply. This is no longer possible as we transition to a local, renewable energy ecosystem."
Environment and Climate Change Canada did not respond to a request for an interview in time for publication. But in 2022, former environment minister Jonathan Wilkinson said there would be "no green energy transition without critical minerals."
Meanwhile, time is running out for countries to meet their targets agreed to under the 2015 Paris accords of eliminating greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
The United Nations has described that as "one of the greatest challenges humankind has faced."
Pharand says the local population agrees with the transition to clean energy but is worried that the already changing climate could pose unforeseen risks to a mine in their area.
"The concern of the population is that mother nature is full of surprises in recent [times] in terms of catastrophe."
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