Ontario has launched a C$500 million ($364 million) critical minerals processing fund to support investment in projects in the province including EV and battery manufacturing.

The fund will strengthen the province’s position as a global leader by ensuring critical minerals mined in Ontario are processed and refined in Ontario, by local workers, the provincial government said on December 12.

Funds will be made available through Invest Ontario, the province’s investment attraction agency.

Ontario’s critical minerals advantage will play a key role in growing the province’s strategic sectors, including defence, EV and battery manufacturing, technology, aerospace and advanced manufacturing, the province said.

“We are finally ending the ripping and shipping of Canada’s vast resources by stepping up with a plan to build mines faster and expand domestic processing,” said Stephen Lecce, energy and mines minister.

Canada, in common with other countries, is keen to safeguard and bolster its domestic battery materials market and counter supply chain threats.

In April last year, German industrial giant Siemens said it was setting up a C$150 million global EV battery manufacturing hub in Ontario.

Batteries International reported last month that Nano One had been awarded C$5 million from Natural Resources Canada to scale production of the firm’s proprietary One-Pot process for LFP cathode active materials process and accelerate commercialization.

Canada’s energy and natural resources minister Tim Hodgson said the funding would support Nano One’s ongoing work at its Candiac, Québec and Burnaby facilities through to March 31, 2027.