Thank you, Minister.
Thanks for the investment of $2.4 billion in artificial intelligence and especially the $200 million for industries in health care, agriculture and manufacturing to adapt and use AI in their operations. That's a good thing.
I'll come to the electric vehicle industry. “From Mines to Mobility....” Things are going quite well with the critical mineral industry. The time taken to implement a mineral exploration project is very long. I'm glad to note that, for one project, an environmental impact assessment strategy is taking place.
I also note that we have a lot of battery plants coming up and a lot of electric vehicle plants coming up, but people are not hearing much about the mineral processing aspect of it. As you know, China is the leader. I think 70% to 90% of the critical mineral processing happens in China. It is a tough business. Sometimes people think that it pollutes much more, but that is the critical part of the entire chain.
In relation to mining critical minerals, in relation to having battery plants and in relation to having electrical vehicle industries, can you highlight where we are with this particular key component in the chain of mineral processing, and what the plans are?