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How well do you remember these stories?Felipe Fittipaldi/Glode and Mail
Welcome to a special edition of The Globe and Mail’s business and investing news quiz. Join us to test your knowledge of Mission Critical, the Globe series looking at Canada’s ambitions to become a critical minerals mining superpower.
Our reporters have started to explore several themes such as competition, money, environmental costs, geopolitics, Indigenous participation and regulations affecting Canada’s critical minerals sector – and what it will take for Canada to become a global player in that industry. We’ll continue to quiz you by adding questions from each feature in the series, so you can build your critical-minerals-know-how and become an expert by the end.
Get caught up on our latest Mission Critical stories: So far, we’ve published stories about how foreign companies are benefiting in Canada over domestic companies; how Ottawa and Bay Street squandered the chance to finance the critical minerals revolution; and how the country is struggling to carve out a niche in supply chains for electric vehicle batteries – despite billions of dollars in subsidies.
What do you remember from these stories? Take our quiz and find out.
1What was Canada’s top-ranked commodity in 2021, by value of production?
a. Potash
b. Coal
c. Diamonds
d. Gold
d. Gold was the top-ranked commodity by value of production in Canada in 2021 with a value of $13.7-billion. The top three commodities in 2021 were gold (25 per cent), coal (14 per cent), and iron ore concentrates (12 per cent). Gold has the most appeal right now because the price of bullion is still hovering around US$2,000 per ounce, higher than even in the heydays of the commodity supercycle.
2Keeping the mining industry in Canadian hands won’t be easy without support from investors. The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board has invested how much in Canadian mining stocks?
a. $400-million
b. $823-million
c. $2.3-billion
d. $5-billion
3After consulting with provinces, territories and industry, Canada released a critical minerals strategy in 2021. How many critical minerals were listed?
c. 31. The strategy listed 31 critical minerals. Those minerals are: aluminum; antimony; bismuth; cesium; chromite; cobalt; copper; fluorspar; gallium; germanium; graphite; helium; indium; lithium; magnesium; manganese; molybdenum; nickel; niobium; platinum group metals; potash; rare earth elements; scandium; tantalum; tellurium; tin; titanium; tungsten; uranium; vanadium and zinc.
4The largest stock market in the world for minerals companies is the Toronto Stock Exchange:
a. True. The largest stock market in the world for minerals companies is the Toronto Stock Exchange. “But none of the big guys are on it because we let them go,” said Pierre Lassonde, co-founder and chairman emeritus of mining royalty company Franco-Nevada Corp. “We’ve hollowed out one of the key industries in Canada.”
5There was an era when miners would sell investors on a project that was close to an existing mine with proven reserves. Investors were often desperate to get in early, to beat anyone else who waited for proof from junior companies. What was this strategy of selling called?
a. “Proxity complex”
b. “FOMO”
c. “Pre-proofing”
d. “Close-ology”
d. “Close-ology.” It was an era when miners lived and died by what’s known as “close-ology,” the wildly popular, but extremely unscientific, art of selling investors on a project that was close to an existing mine with proven reserves. It didn’t matter if a junior company hadn’t yet put out a technical report that could verify its hopes and dreams. Investors were often desperate to get in early at 5 cents per share, to beat anyone else who waited for proof. FOMO – fear of missing out – dominated decision-making.
6Last year Ottawa announced a virtual ban on the acquisition of Canadian mining companies by which country, because of national security concerns over the superpower’s dominance in critical minerals.
a. Australia
b. China
c. Congo
d. India
b. China. Montreal-based SRG Mining Inc. in July announced a tentative deal worth $16.9-million to sell a 19.4-per-cent stake to Carbon ONE New Energy Group Co. Ltd. (C-ONE), even though Ottawa last year announced a virtual ban on the acquisition of Canadian mining companies by China-based enterprises.
7Lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles require lithium, nickel, cobalt, graphite and manganese to be made. True or False: Canada is one of only a small handful of democratic countries that has reserves of most of them.
a. True. The federal government’s standard line, contained in its critical minerals strategy, is that Canada is “extremely well positioned” to supply these materials. According to federal data, there are currently 17 active mines in Canada that produce some quantity of the five minerals used in EV batteries.
8In the spring of 2023, Canada’s biggest diversified mining company, Teck Resources Ltd., suffered one of the biggest blows in its more than 100-year history. What happened?
a. The company fired its chief executive officer after major shifts in its coal business strategy.
b. The company’s stock dropped to the lowest levels it has ever seen.
c. The company called off a restructuring that had been years in the making, after failing to garner enough support from shareholders.
d. The company’s board of directors all quit, frustrated by Australia’s industry dominance.
c. The company called off a restructuring. At the 11th hour, Teck called off a restructuring that had been years in the making, after failing to garner enough support from shareholders. On the day of that grim announcement, the atmosphere at Teck’s annual general meeting was akin to that in a morgue. Teck’s sombre-faced chief executive officer Jonathan Price and its board of directors were forced to publicly accept blame for putting forward a poorly conceived restructuring.
How well did you do?
Answer all of the questions to see your result
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