Report finds major gaps in data on domestic use, recycling, and supply chains beyond extraction

SMITHERS, BC, May 21, 2026 /CNW/ - A new report warns that Canada's rapid push to expand "critical minerals" mining for clean energy, digital technologies, and defence is being driven by data gaps that limit transparency, accountability, and effective long-term planning.

The Data Deficit: Canada's "Critical Minerals" Dilemma finds that while Canada has relatively strong data on mineral extraction, it lacks basic information on domestic use, recycling, and where minerals ultimately end up once exported. As a result, policy decisions are largely based on global projections and industry estimates rather than verified Canadian needs.

"We are making major decisions about mining expansion without knowing how much material we actually need or where it goes," said report author Nikki Skuce, director of the Northern Confluence Initiative. "That creates serious risks for our communities, ecosystems, and taxpayers."

Key findings

The report identifies persistent gaps across Canada's mineral supply chain:

• Limited data on domestic consumption of key minerals such as lithium, nickel, cobalt, and copper
• Weak tracking beyond extraction, including refining, recycling, and end use
• Minimal visibility into sectoral demand across energy, transport, construction, and defence
• Underdeveloped circular economy systems, with recycling and reuse largely unmeasured or underused
• Poor traceability once minerals enter global supply chains

The report argues this information gap drives an extraction-first approach while overlooking opportunities to reduce demand and increase material recovery.

Strategic implications

"Critical minerals" are increasingly used across multiple sectors — including clean energy technologies, digital infrastructure, industrial production, and military supply chains — but Canada lacks the data to understand how these competing demands shape real domestic needs and opportunities.

"Without better data, we can't tell whether mineral expansion is actually supporting the clean energy transition or being driven by military demand and AI data centres," said Skuce. "That uncertainty means we're pushing for the rapid expansion of mining, which comes with huge impacts to communities and the environment, mostly for export markets and no supply security."

The report notes that other jurisdictions are integrating more comprehensive data into mineral policy design. The European Union uses full value-chain analysis to assess material demand across clean energy, digital, industrial, and defence sectors to inform resource efficiency and recycling policies and needs. In the United States, mineral commodity reporting includes sources, consumption trends, recycling inputs, and substitution potential to guide supply chain strategy and stockpiling decisions, though priorities have shifted under the current administration.

By contrast, Canada's fragmented datasets make it difficult to evaluate similar trade-offs or design policies that reduce demand pressure alongside new supply development.

Call to action

The report calls for stronger national systems to track mineral flows from extraction through processing, export, end use and recycling. It also recommends greater investment in circular economy approaches, including recycling, reuse, and material recovery.

It concludes that Canada's current approach risks prioritizing mining expansion without sufficient evidence of need, impact, or long-term benefit — undermining both environmental safeguards and strategic planning.

About the report

The Data Deficit: Canada's "Critical Minerals" Dilemma was authored by Nikki Skuce of the Northern Confluence Initiative, a project of MakeWay. It examines lithium, cobalt, nickel, and copper production and spotlights some of Canada's gaps in tracking domestic demand, end use, and recycling.

SOURCE Northern Confluence