In Canada, phosphate becomes a critical mineral for the green transition

To Montreal

This is the story of a small player in the global phosphate market. Today, three quarters of production is concentrated between China, the United States and Morocco. Canada, which was a major producer of phosphate since 1870 and for a long time, wants to become one again. Not so much for the production of fertilizers for which it is most often used, but for the electric battery market. Phosphate is a key component of new lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) battery sectors.

The Canadian and Quebec governments have invested nearly 18 billion dollars in the entire battery sector in 2023 alone, including 13.2 billion in a Volkswagen mega-factory project in Ontario. According to a report from the think tank Clean Energy Canada, this industry should « directly contribute 5.7 billion at 24 billion dollars to Canadian GDP by 2030, supporting between 18,500 and 81,000 direct jobs (…) and up to 333,000 jobs…