Natural Resources Committee on March 12th, 2021

[Dane Lloyd, Conservative, Sturgeon River—Parkland, AB]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, James Maloney]

Thank you, Mr. Lloyd.

We'll move over to Mr. May for five minutes.

[Bryan May, Liberal, Cambridge, ON]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Again, thank you to all the witnesses for taking the time to help us with this study today.

My questions also are going to be directed to Mr. Fung.

I'm the member of Parliament for the riding of Cambridge, and we have Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada in our backyard. The whole idea of manufacturing for the future and making sure that we have what we need in terms of the supply chain is speaking to me quite a bit throughout this session.

I'm very thankful that when you made your opening statement, you were talking about not only the approach of controlling the supply chain but also how you were doing it and the environmental initiatives that your company is actively employing to move the products. That's just a comment of thanks for that.

I was very interested. I wasn't sure if anybody would pick up on the batteries comment, and I'm very thankful that's been a dominant conversation—excuse me, not the batteries, but magnets—because we have talked a lot in this committee about the need for the rare earth elements when it comes to batteries, but not so much for other parts of the EV business.

I'm wondering if beyond the magnets there are other components that you're aware of that rare earth elements play a part in.

[Robert Fung]

The rare earth elements play a part in literally.... There is nothing in the new industry that rare earth elements don't play a part in. You just look around. Anything you have that's technological, there are rare earth elements in it, whether it's in TV screens to make them brighter.... However, if we are serious about getting to a lower-carbon economy.... Again, you have a fuel and you have your power, so the permanent magnets.... Literally everything requires an electric motor. Everything we can think about requires an electric motor, whether it's a defence capability, whether it's transportation, whether it's things that you use in your normal household. They all require electric motors, and the most efficient electric motor is the permanent magnet electric motor.

[Bryan May, Liberal, Cambridge, ON]

This might not be a fair question for you, sir, but do you know whether or not these components can be recycled?

[Robert Fung]

I believe several of the components can be recycled. In fact, that is something that the Americans have been trying to do, taking a look at actually recycling some of these components.

However, in the case of Torngat, our process really incorporates both. It incorporates the mining and the recycling. Recycling's a small piece of it, but the production chain will use recycled materials.

[Bryan May, Liberal, Cambridge, ON]

I think it's going to become a much bigger component, if I could be so bold as to say that. As we start seeing more and more EVs on the road, for example, the need to manage the end of life of these vehicles is going to be critical. Also, the term “resale” is going to have a very different reality if the batteries can't be swapped out or recycled or replaced.

I don't have much time left here, but I think I have about another minute, if I'm not mistaken.

You brought forth in your statement some very solid recommendations, I might say. One of them—I think the first one—was regarding a deadline. Could you advise us in terms of what you would see as a reasonable deadline for the government to demonstrate its commitment?

[Robert Fung]

Within the next three months. You've been working on it for some time.

[Bryan May, Liberal, Cambridge, ON]

So soon?

[Robert Fung]

Yes, absolutely.

[Bryan May, Liberal, Cambridge, ON]

Very soon. Sooner rather than later.

[Robert Fung]

Absolutely.

[Bryan May, Liberal, Cambridge, ON]

Okay, fair enough.

What would you say the first step of that would be?

[Robert Fung]

Well, essentially, to talk in terms of how you.... The first thing you have to address is how you finance this and be given access, essentially, to some of the funding mechanisms. The problem is that we've looked at umpteen funds that have been administered, but there aren't any programs that give rare earth minerals access to this funding. This is something to be done right away.

[Bryan May, Liberal, Cambridge, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Fung.

[The Chair, Liberal, James Maloney]

Thank you, Mr. May. You're right on time, which is appreciated.

We go now to Ms. Falk for five minutes.

[Rosemarie Falk, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the committee for having me today.

It's great to see Mr. Austin here. It's nice to see a bit of Saskatchewan in Ottawa. I appreciate that. I'm on the western side of the province. I've come across many people who work in Cigar Lake, who travel and commute there.

Companies, especially in the field you are in, sometimes get a bad rap. It's great to hear how your company cares enough about the community in northern Saskatchewan to temporarily halt production for safety during this time. I want to give a shout-out for that. Sometimes you guys don't get enough credit where credit is due on that aspect.

There has been a lot of conversation here about exploring, developing, producing and refining. Canadians have a vast skill set. We have the skills, the talent, the ability, and the people to do a lot of that work here in Canada.

The Mining Association of Canada said that in 2018 only 15% of the workforce were women, and that it had actually gone down since 2011.

Could anybody mention why that might be? Why are we actually seeing a decline? This was before COVID, obviously. This was in 2018. Why was there a drop in women's participation in the workforce when it comes to mining?

Does anybody want to take this question?

[The Chair, Liberal, James Maloney]

Are there any takers?

Why don't you pick someone?

[Rosemarie Falk, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK]

Let's go with Mr. Austin since he is in Saskatchewan.

[Dale Austin]

First, thank you for your kind words about Cameco.

I admit that question is not in my field of expertise. I would not want to mislead the committee. I'm certainly happy to get back to the committee with Cameco's experiences in terms of women miners and women employees in our company. I do not have that information at hand today.

[Rosemarie Falk, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK]

Thank you so much for your honesty on that and for being willing to provide that to the committee.

As Mr. Cannings mentioned with regard to indigenous participation, it's important that we also make sure we have women's participation in some of these non-traditional fields. That doesn't necessarily mean wearing a mining hat and going in there, but it pertains to management positions or office-type positions.

Mr. Austin, has Cameco experienced any inconsistency when it comes to regulatory obligations, when it comes to new projects? Is that an area you're developing or exploring?

[Dale Austin]

Not recently. Cigar Lake was the latest mine that we brought online. That was a number of years ago. We have not had the opportunity yet to put a new project forward under the new regulatory process. Until we have experience there, I can't really answer the question.

We're a heavily regulated sector. We work regularly with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. In terms of the environmental regulatory process, we have not had any recent experiences.

[Rosemarie Falk, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK]

Is the reason for not applying attributed to the decrease in uranium prices you mentioned earlier?

[Dale Austin]

Market conditions are a large factor there. The ongoing low price of uranium certainly has a bearing on when we would consider making applications and looking at new projects.

[Rosemarie Falk, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK]

Wonderful.

Thank you.