The following statement was read in the House of Assembly today by the Honourable Andrew Parsons, KC, Minister of Industry, Energy and Technology:

Speaker, I rise today to highlight emerging opportunities in the province’s mining industry, and to tout its successes in 2022.

I recently joined more than 30 companies from this province to attend the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada conference in Toronto. Considered the world’s premier mineral exploration and mining convention, I met with various companies working in the province, and was welcomed with no shortage of optimism for our industry.

One of the key topics at the conference was critical minerals. These building blocks of clean technology are located throughout our province – in fact, we have at least 23 of the 31 minerals on Canada’s Critical Mineral List – five are currently or have recently been mined, and 18 are in advanced exploration.

To build on this momentum, our government is developing a provincial Critical Minerals Strategy. Consultations will start in the coming weeks, and we aim to release the strategy this fall. Memorial University and the College of the North Atlantic also recognize the importance of this opportunity, and have come together with a Memorandum of Understanding to support the development of the critical minerals in the province.

Speaker, in 2022, mineral shipments were valued at $5.4 billion; exploration expenditures estimate to be over $240 million; and employment levels are up eleven percent from the previous year.

Even with all this success, it is the potential future investments in critical minerals that will present the next opportunity for Newfoundland and Labrador, and we are ready to seize the opportunity. Thank you.