In the September edition of the Canadian Mining Journal column, Christopher Doucet and Zirjan Derwa examine how Canada’s approach to Chinese investment in the mining sector may be evolving following the release of the Canada–China Economic and Trade Cooperation Roadmap in January 2026. In recent years, Chinese investment in Canadian mining, particularly critical minerals, has faced significant barriers due to heightened scrutiny under Canada’s foreign investment review regime and the 2022 Critical Minerals Policy. That policy signaled that investments by Chinese state-owned enterprises and foreign-influenced investors in critical mineral assets would generally be restricted, leading to several high-profile divestiture orders and creating a broader deterrent effect that extended beyond critical minerals into the wider mining sector.
In their column, Christopher and Zirjan suggest that the new roadmap may indicate a more nuanced approach, with Canada remaining vigilant on national security concerns while becoming more receptive to Chinese investment in less strategically sensitive mining segments, such as base and precious metals. While uncertainty remains regarding how broadly the policy changes will be applied, the authors argue that greater regulatory clarity could help attract renewed Chinese capital to the mining sector, supporting Canada’s competitiveness as a destination for global mining investment while maintaining protections for strategically important assets
The full column is available here.
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