Thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to appear before the committee.
I am Benoît Plante, professor at the Institut de recherche en mines et en environnement, or IRME, of the Université du Québec en Abitibi‑Témiscamingue, or UQAT.
I am a geochemist, specializing in the environmental geochemistry of mine waste, with a particular focus in recent years on critical and strategic mineral resource mining projects.
I am proud to hold the Institutional Chair in Environmental Geochemistry of Critical and Strategic Mineral Resources. Since 2014, I have been conducting several research projects in partnership with mining industry stakeholders developing these resources, particularly on rare earth elements, graphite and lithium.
The institute where I work has 16 world‑class professors and provides a first‑class teaching and research environment. There are more than 20 technical and professional specialists. More than 90 students and interns from all levels of graduate studies are currently studying there, in very close collaboration with colleagues from Polytechnique Montréal.
The institute is internationally recognized for its focus on developing innovative, economically and socially responsible environmental solutions throughout the life cycle of a mine, from resource exploration to mining remediation.
The institute carries out its research activities throughout Quebec, including in the Far North of Quebec, but also in Canada.
Thanks to our many partnerships with mining companies, Quebec government departments, other Quebec and Canadian universities and internationally, we can proudly present ourselves as a key player in the field.
Historically, research at the institute has been focusing primarily on the base and precious metals sectors. However, our team has already achieved many accomplishments, which demonstrate its willingness and ability to act as a major player in the responsible exploitation of not only base and precious metals, but also critical and strategic metals.
For the institute, it is of the utmost importance to be at the heart of the responsible development of these minerals, in the same way it is recognized on the world stage for the responsible development of base and precious metals.
To that end, concrete measures have already been taken by the institute and UQAT in terms of research and training in this area of activity. In particular, we have hired Professor Lucie Coudert, a specialist in the recovery of critical and strategic metals and now the Canada Research Chair in Tailings Reprocessing, to extract critical and strategic metals.
Professor Jean‑François Boulanger, a specialist in the processing of critical and strategic mineral resources, particularly rare earth elements, and Professor Marc Legault, a specialist in the geology of mineral and strategic resources, have also been hired in recent years to support our research and development efforts in this area.
Canada has deposits of many critical and strategic mineral resources and has the expertise to develop them responsibly, building on the expertise developed in the base and precious metals sector. However, several additional challenges remain, requiring further research and development efforts. These efforts are needed to further develop and transfer the expertise for responsible mining of these critical mineral resources, and ultimately to bring them to scale in Canada.
Among the challenges is the funding of research in partnership with deposit developers, critical and strategic mineral resources, which poses an additional challenge to the precious and base metals sector. Indeed, the financial precariousness of most critical and strategic metals players means that they do not have many material, human and financial resources, and access to the funding levers currently available is particularly difficult. Indeed, the current levers require significant financial and material resources that are often unrealistic for these developers.
So I think Canada does have the potential to become the leader in the responsible production and processing of critical and strategic metals. Canada should continue to innovate by offering more funding measures specific to critical and strategic metals, which will help intensify research efforts and position Canada as a world leader in responsible mining. In this way, Canada could become a model for other world powers.
This concludes my opening remarks.