Teck Mining Company's zinc and lead smelting and refining complex in Trail, B.C. produces germanium as a byproduct of zinc mining in Alaska. Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson is pitching a joint investment with the U.S. in Teck to boost production of germanium, after China said last month it would stop exports of the mineral to the United States.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson is pitching a joint investment with the United States to bolster Teck Resources Ltd.’s TECK-B-T production of the critical mineral germanium.
Vancouver-based Teck produces germanium at its Trail smelter in British Columbia’s Kootenay region as a byproduct of zinc mining in Alaska. Germanium is used in fibre-optic networks, infrared vision systems and solar panels.
“There is an opportunity to jointly invest in a project that will enable greater germanium supply – which can displace germanium the U.S. has been purchasing from China,” Mr. Wilkinson said in a prepared speech Wednesday in Washington at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
He said collaboration is important because it will benefit both Canada and the U.S.
His joint-investment proposal is being made in an environment of extreme trade uncertainty. Incoming U.S. president Donald Trump has said he will impose 25-per-cent tariffs on all imports of Canadian goods.
Federal and provincial politicians in Canada have been trying to head off a trade war with the U.S. by emphasizing ways in which the two countries can work together in energy and in critical minerals such as uranium, scandium, titanium and gallium.
The U.S. has had no domestic production of gallium metal since 1982, according to the United States Geological Survey.
Last month, China said it is stopping exports of germanium, gallium and antimony to the U.S., citing national security concerns. The export ban raises fears of possible shortages for the U.S. in its clean energy and defence sectors. Before the ban, China was the biggest supplier of germanium metal to the U.S.
In 2023, Canada accounted for 46 per cent of germanium dioxide (a compound of germanium and oxygen) imports to the U.S. Teck is that country’s only Canadian supplier of the critical mineral.
When asked about the prospect of Canada and the U.S. investing in its germanium operations, Teck spokesperson Dale Steeves said in an e-mail to The Globe and Mail that the company is sharing information with both governments about its products, their importance to the economy and the security of both countries.
“We are examining options and market support for increasing production capacity of germanium,” he added.
Over the past few years, Canada and the U.S. have teamed up to jointly invest tens of millions of dollars in several critical minerals companies, with most of that money going to early-stage development companies. Earlier this year, Fortune Minerals Ltd., a cobalt, gold and bismuth development company based in London, Ont., received $16.2-million in joint funding. Montreal-based Lomiko Metals Inc. was awarded $16.3-million.
The proposed joint investment in Teck comes not long after its chief executive officer, Jonathan Price, lambasted both governments for not putting enough money into major companies that operate critical minerals mines. While Canada and the U.S. have committed tens of billions of dollars in battery manufacturing plants over the past few years, Mr. Price said in a speech in October, support for mines and processing plants, which is where the materials for the battery plants are supposed to come from, is lagging.
“Support for car and battery plants absent support for the mines needed to supply them is like starting a farm-to-table restaurant without bothering to plant the farm,” he said.
Mr. Wilkinson on Wednesday also called for closer co-operation with the U.S. in rare earth metals.
“We can joint work on rare earth processing and the augmentation of rare earths supply – once again reducing exposure to and dependence on China,” he said.
He underlined how much the United States relies on Canadian energy and minerals by noting that uranium mined in Canada “powers the equivalent of almost 20 million homes across the U.S.” and electricity from several provinces “powers the equivalent of six million American homes – more than every home in the state of Ohio.”
He also warned that Mr. Trump’s tariffs would drive up gasoline prices in the U.S. Midwest by as much as 75 cents per gallon.
B.C. Premier David Eby echoed Mr. Wilkinson’s ethos of co-operating with the U.S. in Teck’s germanium operations during a speech Tuesday night to the B.C. Natural Resources Forum in Prince George.
“If the United States doesn’t get this metal from the Teck smelter in Trail, it’s not available at all,” Mr. Eby said. “And so that is just one example of how important it is that we work together. We provide the products that Americans need to be successful, and vice-versa.”