Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne says his goal is to help make Canada the NATO partner of choice when it comes to supplying critical minerals as defence becomes a focus for many countries…Refining is the “name of the game” and Canada can do better than just shipping those high-demand materials south in their raw form, Champagne told a Calgary business audience Monday almost a week after he delivered the latest federal budget…“Exploration, extraction is something. But what we need is refining. That’s the key,” he said. Minerals like titanium, used to make submarines, are crucial to defence initiatives, he added…The budget released last Tuesday outlines a plan for a $2-billion “critical minerals sovereign fund” over five years for equity investments, loan guarantees and offtake agreements…Critical minerals are becoming “decisive” to the competitiveness of countries, Champagne said…“If we left it entirely to the market, I’m not sure we would meet the moment.”

China plans to ease the flow of rare earths and other restricted materials to the U.S. via a system that will exclude companies with ties to the U.S. military while fast-tracking export approvals for other firms, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.

In a move supporting the creation of a made-in-Canada critical minerals supply chain linking Northwest Territories and Alberta, Prosper NWT has offered Fortune Minerals Ltd. a C$3.8 million ($2.7 million) loan to complete the purchase of an industrial site for its planned Alberta refinery…This location is ideal for receiving concentrates from Fortune's proposed NICO bismuth-cobalt-copper-gold mine in Northwest Territories and delivering refined metals to North American markets…This all-Canadian mine-to-metals supply chain would deliver bismuth for automotive and metallurgical applications, cobalt for lithium-ion batteries, copper for the energy transition, and gold to help offset the costs of producing these critical metals. The project has attracted interest from both the Canadian and American governments…In 2024, the U.S. Department of Defense, Natural Resources Canada, and the Alberta Innovates Clean Resource Intake program awarded Fortune C$17 million ($12.2 million) to complete an updated feasibility study and secure the remaining permits required to accelerate its vertically integrated NICO project to a construction decision…The planned Alberta refinery has also attracted the attention of Rio Tinto, which is working with Fortune to evaluate the potential of blending bismuth- and cobalt-enriched byproduct materials from the Kennecott smelter in Utah with NICO mine concentrates before processing through the Alberta refinery…"We are enthusiastic about this partnership with Fortune Minerals as we continue looking at our waste streams to develop new, sustainable sources of critical minerals here in North America," said Rio Tinto Kennecott Managing Director Nate Foster…For Fortune, the loan is another example of growing government and industry support of its plan to build a vertically integrated critical minerals supply chain anchored in Northwest Territories.

Honda's downgrade to its full-year profit outlook underscores the immediate pressure from U.S. tariffs and global chip shortages - but the deeper, longer-term challenge lies in intensifying competition from Chinese electric vehicle makers. Japan's second-largest automaker cut its full-year outlook by a fifth after the market closed on Friday, citing one-off EV costs and a shortage of components using chips from Netherlands-based Nexperia. The Dutch government took control of the company, owned by China's Wingtech , on September 30…Honda now expects to sell 925,000 vehicles in Asia, including China, in the current financial year, a decline of more than 10% from its previous target of 1.09 million cars. It had previously forecast to sell 5,000 fewer cars in Asia outside of China than it did last year; that figure has now ballooned to 75,000 fewer…Competition from Chinese EV makers such as BYD is becoming increasingly difficult for Japan's automakers across Southeast Asia, including Thailand and Indonesia, said one industry source, who declined to be identified so he could speak openly…The advance by BYD and others comes as China's own auto industry faces a brutal price war at home, prompting its EV makers to expand aggressively overseas.