Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as my friend from the Sahtu has said, critical minerals are the future of the minerals industry, not just in Northwest Territories but in the entire world. And in that mix, rare earth minerals are vital to the modern digital economy because they're such a necessity for high technology devices, the demand of which increases exponentially every year. Rare earth minerals are particularly key to the transition to renewable energy and decarbonizing our economy. The industry is centered in the AsiaPacific region because the People's Republic of China accounts for 70 percent of the world's supply. China also has access to South American minerals because of complex trade deals with Latin American countries and the fact that they're built around initiative gives them access to South American rare earth markets.
Mr. Speaker, that's why Nechalacho Mine here in the Northwest Territories had so much promise to deliver a supply chain outside of China's control over the market.
Mr. Speaker, Vital Minerals is a company based in Australia that is also developing a rare earth mine project in Tanzania in addition to the Nechalacho Mine here in the Northwest Territories. The project was commenced in 2021, and Vital hoped to mine 25,000 tonnes of concentrate per year by 2025. Unfortunately, changes to the market caused issues with financing this project and shortly after June 2022, there were concerns with the company and they closed their processing plant in Saskatoon in 2023. So here, the situation we have today before us, is a large investment from a Chinese statecontrolled company called Shanghai Resources has bought a near 10 percent stake in Vital Metals with a promise to bring that total up to 18 percent. And, Mr. Speaker, this kind of foreign investment is of grave concern to Canada's national security. It also is of grave concern to the future viability of rare earth mining and the rare earth industry in the Northwest Territories because China has used rare earths and critical minerals as part of their national strategy to maintain dominance over that market. And if things continue, we won't have a Nechalacho Mine in the Northwest Territories. It will be shut down, and we'll be forced to participate in that supply chain which is just not working for ourselves or our allies or for our efforts to decarbonize our economy. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Members' statements. Member from Great Slave.
