By Paul Vieira

Energy envoys from the Group of Seven economies unveiled in Toronto on Friday about two dozen deals aimed at unlocking billions worth of critical minerals.

Canadian Energy and Resources Minister Tim Hodgson said the transactions mark a coordinated effort to counter China's dominance in the field.

"We are serious about reducing market concentration and dependencies, safeguarding national security and sovereignty, mobilizing capital and driving investments in sustainable critical minerals projects," he said, according to prepared remarks he was scheduled to deliver. Canada is leading the G7 presidency this year.

The deals include offtake agreements, in which there's a commitment to buy a miner's production, and stockpiling pacts, in which a party agrees to acquire and store production for future use. Some of the Canada-focused deals include financing for Nouveau Monde Graphite's mine near Montreal, and Rio Tinto's scandium plant in Quebec.

Hodgson added that Italian energy company Eni has indicated its intention to pursue critical minerals opportunities in Canada, such as lithium and graphite.

Overall, he said the deals would unlock about $4.5 billion in critical-minerals projects.

Meanwhile, Hodgson added Canada's cabinet had issued an order to designate critical minerals as "essential to Canadian defense and national interests," thereby allowing Canada to launch its own defense-stockpiling regime. "By protecting domestic production under volatile global conditions, we ensure a secure supply of critical minerals to Canadian and allied defence industries."

Canada has tried to champion closer integration among the big Western developed economies on the production of critical minerals. Since the 1990s, China has used aggressive tactics to build up and maintain its lock over rare-earth minerals, which are essential to making magnets needed for cars, wind turbines, jet fighters and other products.

China has imposed restrictions this year, including a sudden move in October to tighten curbs on rare-earth exports. In a meeting Thursday between President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Beijing promised to ease some of the controls it imposed on exports of processed rare-earth minerals for one year.

Write to Paul Vieira at paul.vieira@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 31, 2025 15:00 ET (19:00 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.