Ministers Ng and Champagne attended 2024 Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada annual convention

March 4, 2024 – Toronto, Ontario – Global Affairs Canada

Today, the Honourable Mary Ng, Minister of Export Promotion, International Trade and Economic Development, and the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry attended the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) annual convention in Toronto, Ontario, where they met with key Canadian and international mining sector representatives.

Kirsten Hillman, Ambassador of Canada to the United States, joined the ministers to promote the Team Canada engagement strategy with the United States.

Canada and the United States are each others’ top foreign supplier of energy, creating good jobs and growing economies on both sides of the border.

While at the PDAC convention, Minister Ng met with senior mining industry representatives, including from the Mining Association of Canada, to discuss critical mineral supply chains; environmental, social and governance leadership; responsible business conduct; and diversity and inclusion in the Canadian mining sector.

Minister Ng also spoke with Alberto Otárola Peñaranda, Prime Minister of Peru, and José Arista, Peru’s newly appointed minister of economy and finance. Together, they exchanged views on progress in bilateral trade under the Canada-Peru Free Trade Agreement and the possibility of expanding collaboration in critical minerals and sustainable mining.

Minister Champagne discussed new decarbonization opportunities with Jakob Stausholm, CEO of Rio Tinto, and met with Ranj Pillai, Premier of Yukon, to discuss developing critical minerals and international collaborations.

Minister Champagne also met with senior representatives of the United Kingdom’s critical minerals sector to talk about how their countries could work more closely together on supply chain resiliency.

Following the signature of a Joint Statement of Cooperation on promoting shared priorities related to critical minerals between Canada and Australia by Minister Wilkinson early today, Ministers Ng and Champagne concluded their visit to PDAC by meeting with Madeleine King, Australian Minister for Resources and Minister for Northern Australia. They discussed the growing partnership between Canada and Australia in the critical minerals, electric vehicle and clean technology sectors.