Agend for critical minerals for defence

Defence rearmament, NATO production targets, and allied security commitments are now directly influencing where capital, industrial capacity, and supply chains are being built. This panel brings together defence, mining, and industrial-security experts to explain how military readiness goals are being translated into real investments, funding programs, and strategic sourcing decisions for critical minerals — and what that means for Canadian and allied producers.

How are NATO and allied defence targets reshaping demand for critical minerals, and which materials are now most strategically critical?
How are defence readiness goals being converted into funding programs, stockpiling strategies, and long-term procurement commitments?
Which parts of the defence value chain—defence platforms, aerospace, electronics, and energy systems—are driving the strongest new demand signals for specific minerals?
What types of projects and jurisdictions are allied governments actively seeking to accelerate to secure supply?
How does secure access to critical minerals underpin military readiness, essential defence technologies, and broader strategic resilience?
How is Canada positioning itself to supply NATO and allied defence partners with strategic minerals—and which materials are emerging as the highest priority?

Chair: Bill Hawkins, Head, Trade and Investment, Sussex

Kevin Reed, President and Chief Operations Officer, Defence, Security & Resilience Bank (DSRB) Development Group

Jody Thomas, Former National Security and Intelligence Advisor and Senior Advisor,

Counsel Public Affairs

Scott Monteith, President and CEO, Avalon Advanced Materials

As allied governments elevate critical minerals to defence and industrial priorities, Canada is rapidly aligning its defence, industrial, and critical minerals strategies to support allied supply chains. This session brings together the leaders shaping defence procurement, minerals policy, and industrial strategy to provide an update on key policy developments to support critical minerals for allied defence supply chains.

What are the latest updates on the implementation of Canada’s Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS)?
How are DND, NRCan, and ISED working together to ensure Canada’s critical minerals strategy aligns with allied defence and industrial needs?
How are defence procurement and industrial policy shaping which minerals, projects, and regions get prioritized?
Where will government policy most directly affect project timelines, approvals, and offtake opportunities?
What should miners and investors be doing now to align with Canada’s defence-aligned supply chain priorities?

Chair: Marcella Munro, Head, Government & Regulatory Affairs, Teck Resources

Kendal Hembroff, Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Industry Sector, Innovation

Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED)

Isabella Chan, Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, Lands and Minerals Sector,

Natural Resources Canada

As allied defence production accelerates, critical minerals are moving from a background input to a strategic constraint shaping procurement, production timelines, and industrial policy. This panel brings together defence and aerospace primes to discuss evolving approaches to supply chain resilience and how critical minerals align with long-term defence sourcing strategies.

Where do critical minerals actually sit within today’s defence supply chains — and what is changing inside OEM sourcing, qualification, and long-term planning as defence demand accelerates?
How is the conversation inside defence and aerospace OEMs evolving around critical minerals sourcing?
What role do defence primes expect to play in catalyzing secure supply — through partnerships, long-term commitments, or closer engagement with mining and processing?
What policy signals, procurement frameworks, or government tools would make it easier for OEMs to engage directly in defence-aligned minerals supply chains?
What practical steps can Canadian miners and processors take to qualify as “trusted suppliers” within allied defence and aerospace ecosystems?

Chair: Anton Sestritsyn, Principal, VOSAVIS

Jeff Tasseron, Director Strategy & Innovation, CAE

Nathan Cardinell, Senior Engineer, Lockheed Martin

Canada is deploying a powerful set of financial, procurement, and project-acceleration tools to match allied defence demand with domestic mining and processing projects. This panel brings together Canada’s key public financing institutions to explain how defence and industrial priorities are being converted into capital, guarantees, and project support.

How are defence and allied security priorities reshaping where public capital is being deployed?
How do Canada Growth Fund, EDC, BDC, and CIB work together to support defence-critical minerals projects?
What makes a project eligible for defence-aligned funding and guarantees?
How should miners and investors position their projects to access this capital?

Chair: Jeff Gaulin, Vice President of Corporate Affairs, Vale Base Metals

Peter Suma, Senior Advisor, StrongNorth Fund, BDC Capital

Ashley Glen, Director of Structured and Project Finance, Export Development Canada (EDC)

Christopher Baker, Senior Director, Canada Growth Fund Investment Management (CGFIM)

As defence and allied governments shift from open markets to strategically managed supply chains, security demand is becoming a powerful new market signal for critical minerals. This panel will examine how defence-driven offtake, public capital, and industrial policy are reshaping project risk, investment decisions, and commercial pathways for critical minerals.

How is defence-driven demand changing how banks, investors, and OEMs evaluate mining projects compared with traditional commodity or EV-focused markets?
What defence-aligned signals (offtake commitments, stockpiling, loan guarantees, qualification requirements) are most influential in determining which projects can raise capital?
How does defence demand change project risk, timelines, and development decisions for miners and their financial partners?
Is security the new ESG? How might investors quantify geopolitical and supply-chain risk—and how could that reshape project valuation and cost of capital?
Where are defence OEMs and allied buyers most likely to engage — upstream mining, midstream processing, or materials qualification and integration?
What role should government tools (offtake, price floors, guarantees, strategic investment) play in making projects bankable — and are there any risks to over-reliance on public backing?

Brian Gabriel, EVP, Partnerships and Market Strategy, Principal Mineral

Eric Miller, CEO, Global Battery Materials

Max Yerrill, Vice President, BMO Capital Markets

Defence-critical minerals supply chains cannot be built without provincial leadership on permitting, infrastructure, energy, and financing. This session brings together provincial leaders to discuss how provincial tools for accelerating critical minerals value chains are aligned with national defence priorities and allied supply-chain strategies.

From permits to power: How are provinces accelerating infrastructure, permitting, and energy access for defence-critical mining and processing projects
How provincial funding, incentives, and approvals are aligning with national defence priorities and allied supply-chain strategies
Examples of defence-aligned critical minerals and processing initiatives — and how provinces are working with industry, First Nations, and international partners to deliver projects

Jocelyn Douhéret, Director of Mining Policies, Ministry of Natural Resources and Forests,

Government of Quebec

As defence demand begins to open new pathways to market, critical minerals producers are assessing the opportunities and challenges for defence offtakes, funding and partnerships. This panel provides insight into key considerations for critical minerals miners as the defence-critical minerals shift opens up new possibilities and risks.

What are miners trying to understand about accessing defence markets and qualifying for defence end customers?
What do early signals or interactions (with governments, OEMs, processors) indicate about defence as a potential market?
What are the strategic opportunities and risks for becoming part of the defence value chain - and how does this differ from traditional industrial, EV, or commodity markets?
How are global trade dynamics, tariffs, and geopolitical shifts influencing the opportunities for critical minerals in the defence sector?
How are current regulatory and funding mechanisms supporting defence-critical minerals projects — and where are they falling short?

Gordana Slepcev, Chief Executive Officer, Lomiko Metals

Ian Gibbs, President and CEO, Fireweed Metals

Henri van Rooyen, CEO, Talon Metals

As critical minerals increasingly support defence supply chains, First Nations are being asked to engage with new types of projects across mining, infrastructure, and processing. This panel explores what opportunities First Nations see emerging from this shift, where concerns or challenges may exist, and what conditions are needed for Nations to partner in ways that align with community priorities and long-term stewardship.

What opportunities do First Nations see emerging to partner on critical minerals projects, infrastructure, and processing as defence demand grows?
Are there areas of the value chain where Nations see stronger alignment — or greater caution — when projects may support defence or security end uses?
What concerns or challenges do First Nations consider when deciding whether and how to support or partner on these projects?
What conditions, partnership models, or examples, best demonstrate how critical minerals projects can align with First Nations priorities around consent, stewardship, and long-term economic benefit?

Defence supply chains are only as secure as their processing and refining capacity — and today, most of that capacity still sits in non-trusted jurisdictions. This session examines how allied governments and defence industries are beginning to confront the processing gap, and what types of funding, offtake and industrial policy tools are emerging to make defence-critical processing viable in allied jurisdictions. It will also explore how this shift is creating new commercial opportunities for miners and midstream developers and how advanced processing is enabling a shift from raw materials supply toward defence-ready manufacturing capability across allied jurisdictions.

As defence demand moves from strategy into procurement, there is increasing pressure to build and scale processing and refining capacity outside non-trusted jurisdictions. This panel examines the challenges of building defence-ready midstream projects — including capital, energy, permitting, and offtake — where commercial and strategic opportunities are emerging and how advanced materials manufacturing is becoming the new strategic layer between processing and defence OEM procurement.

● Where are the biggest opportunities right now to build defence-critical processing and refining capacity — and which minerals are most attractive for new projects?

● What are the biggest barriers to building processing capacity — power, permitting, technology, or financing — and how are they being addressed?

● How are allied governments and defence OEMs using offtake, guarantees, and industrial policy to make midstream projects investable?

● How does defence demand change the economics of midstream projects compared to battery, EV, or commercial industrial markets?

● What new kinds of partnerships are emerging between miners, processors, and defence buyers to accelerate project development?

Robin Goad, President & CEO, Fortune Minerals

As defence demand grows and geopolitical risks persist, recycling, secondary refining, and by-product recovery will play an essential role in defence supply chains. This panel will explore how circular supply chains can enhance security, lower environmental impact, and create new commercial pathways for defence-critical minerals.

● Where are the most promising opportunities for recycling and by-product recovery to meaningfully contribute to defence-critical minerals supply in the near to medium term?

● What are the biggest technical, regulatory, and economic barriers to scaling recycling of defence-critical metals like gallium, niobium, tungsten, and rare earths?

● How should governments structure funding, procurement, or incentives to make recycling and by-product recovery commercially viable?

● What role should defence OEMs play in designing products and systems that make critical metals easier to recover at end-of-life?

● How can Canada position itself as a leader in circular defence supply chains — and what partnerships are needed between miners, refiners, recyclers, and government to get there?

Christian Spano, Director, Circularity, Vale Base Metals

Gillian Holcroft, CEO and Co-Founder, Green Graphite Technologies

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AGENDA, DAY 1, JUNE 9TH

WELCOME TO TERRITORY

CHAIR'S OPENING REMARKS

MINISTERIAL REMARKS

DEFENCE DEMAND SIGNALS FOR CRITICAL MINERALS

KEYNOTE PANEL: DEFENCE DRIVEN DEMAND FOR CRITICAL MINERALS

NETWORKING BREAK

ALLIED COOPERATION AND INVESTMENT

EUROPE'S INVESTMENT STRATEGY FOR DEFENCE-CRITICAL MINERALS

STRATEGIES AND OPPORTUNITIES FROM THE GERMAN RAW MATERIALS FUND

U.S. DEFENCE POLICY SIGNALS AND INVESTMENT PATHWAYS FOR CRITICAL MINERALS

STRATEGIC INVESTMENTS AND PARTNERSHIPS IN DEFENCE AND CRITICAL MINERALS

CANADA'S DEFENCE CRITICAL MINERALS STRATEGY

ALIGNING DEFENCE, INDUSTRIAL POLICY, AND CRITICAL MINERALS

NETWORKING LUNCH

DEFENCE SUPPLY CHAIN RESILIENCE AND OEM STRATEGIES

OPERATIONALIZING CANADA’S MINERAL ADVANTAGE IN NATO SUPPLY CHAINS

PANEL: DEFENCE SUPPLY CHAIN RESILIENCE AND OEM STRATEGIES

FINANCING DEFENCE-CRITICAL MINERALS

FINANCING DEFENCE-CRITICAL MINERALS

HOW DEFENCE DEMAND IS CHANGING MINING FINANCE

DEFENCE DEMAND DRIVING MINE COMMERCIALIZATION

MINE TO MARKET: A DEFENCE-ALIGNED RARE EARTH PARTNERSHIP

NETWORKING BREAK

MOBILIZING PUBLIC-PRIVATE CAPITAL FOR DEFENCE-CRITICAL MINERALS

MOBILIZING PUBLIC-PRIVATE CAPITAL FOR DEFENCE-CRITICAL MINERALS

DEFENCE AS A MARKET MAKER FOR CRITICAL MINERALS

DEFENCE AS A MARKET MAKER FOR CRITICAL MINERALS

NETWORKING DRINKS

AGENDA, DAY 2, JUNE 10TH

NETWORKING BREAKFAST

CHAIR'S REMARKS

GEOPOLITICS, INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY, AND THE DEFENCE-CRITICAL MINERALS SHIFT

EU CRITICAL MINERALS PRIORITIES FOR MILITARY APPLICATIONS﻿

PROVINCIAL SUPPORT FOR DEFENCE-CRITICAL MINERALS AND SUPPLY CHAINS

PROVINCIAL SUPPORT FOR DEFENCE-CRITICAL MINERALS

NETWORKING BREAK

THE DEFENCE SHIFT: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES FOR MINING

THE DEFENCE SHIFT: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES FOR MINING

HOW DEFENCE IS RESHAPING THE CRITICAL MINERALS LANDSCAPE

CASE STUDY: THE DEFENCE SHIFT AND STRATEGIC COPPER SUPPLY

FIRST NATIONS PARTNERSHIPS AND DEFENCE-ALIGNED CRITICAL MINERALS

FIRST NATIONS PARTNERSHIPS AND DEFENCE-ALIGNED CRITICAL MINERALS

NETWORKING LUNCH

PROCESSING CRITICAL MINERALS FOR DEFENCE SUPPLY CHAINS

PROCESSING CRITICAL MINERALS FOR DEFENCE SUPPLY CHAINS

CASE STUDY: BUILDING A DEFENCE-READY COBALT REFINERY

CASE STUDY: FROM PROCESSING TO DEFENCE MANUFACTURING CAPABILITY

PANEL: SCALING AND FINANCING DEFENCE-READY PROCESSING CAPACITY

RECYCLING, REFINING & BY-PRODUCT RECOVERY

RECYCLING, REFINING & BY-PRODUCT RECOVERY FOR DEFENCE SUPPLY CHAINS

TURNING MINE WASTE INTO DEFENCE METALS

WHY CIRCULARITY IS CENTRAL FOR DEFENCE AND CRITICAL MINERALS

PANEL: RECYCLING, REFINING & BY-PRODUCT RECOVERY FOR DEFENCE

CHAIR’S REMARKS

WRAP-UP DRINKS

EU CRITICAL MINERALS PRIORITIES FOR MILITARY APPLICATIONS