By Divya Rajagopal

TORONTO, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Canada will accelerate mining projects worth C$6.4 billion ($4.6 billion), as part of the Critical Minerals Production Alliance, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson said on Friday. The announcement came at the end of the two-day Group of Seven meeting of energy and environment ministers in Toronto.

Hodgson said that Canada and its G7 partners will mobilize public and private capital to fast-track graphite, rare earth elements, and scandium production. As part of this alliance, Canada said it has signed an offtake agreement for scandium and graphite with Australian miner Rio Tinto, and Quebec-based Nouveau Monde Graphite. An offtake agreement is a deal where a buyer agrees to purchase a producer's output in the future for a predetermined price.

Earlier this week, in an interview with Reuters, Hodgson said that Canada intended to be a leader in securing supply chains for all of its key allies, to reduce reliance on China. Canada produces several critical metals such as nickel, copper, and cobalt.

G7 countries, except Japan, are heavily or exclusively reliant on China for a range of materials from rare earth magnets to battery metals.

(Divya Rajagopal in Toronto; Editing by Caroline Stauffer )

((divya.rajagopal@thomsonreuters.com, Phone- +16472628751))