The critical minerals race is becoming a race for talent 

The global competition for critical minerals is accelerating. These resources are connected to national security, advanced manufacturing, communications, clean technologies and energy infrastructure. Consequently, the significant financial resources have been invested in mines and mineral processing facilities. 

But another competition is emerging alongside the competition for critical minerals resources, i.e., the competition for engineers, scientists, technicians and researchers. The U.S. provided a convincing example on Aug. 7, 2026, when President Trump announced more than US$180 million for mining education and workforce development. A US$100-million Department of Energy program is intended to expand America’s mining and critical minerals workforce through scholarships and programs involving universities, community colleges, trade schools and industry organizations. More than US$80 million is being directed to three universities for technology, workforce-development and recycling initiatives. This is a strategic message that deserves attention, i.e., mining education is becoming an essential pillar of critical minerals race. 

The Canadian federal government has made critical minerals a strategic economic priority. On Mar. 3, 2026, Ottawa announced more than $3.6 billion in new programs and investments intended to accelerate the development of Canadian critical minerals from mine to market. The same day, Ontario announced plans to modernize its Critical Minerals Strategy around Canadian self-reliance, jobs and supply chains. Among other measures, Ontario highlighted a $500-million Critical Minerals Processing Fund, $25 million through the Critical Minerals Innovation Fund and $70 million for the Indigenous Participation Fund. 

Canada has also recognized the workforce problem. On June 4, 2026, the federal government launched the Mining and Minerals Workforce Alliance, led by the Mining Industry Human Resources Council (MiHR) with support from the Mining Association of Canada. The initiative brings together employers, labour, post-secondary institutions, Indigenous partners and other groups to identify skills gaps and develop a coordinated workforce strategy. The federal government has allocated $81 million over five years to Mining and Minerals Workforce Alliances covering six strategically important sectors, one of which is mining and minerals. Ottawa has also announced $30 million to create 900 employment and skills-training opportunities over two years for young people in natural resource sectors including mining, earth sciences, energy, forestry and clean technology. 

Ontario’s existing Critical Minerals Strategy explicitly identifies college and university graduates and apprentices as important sources of future mining talent. It calls for encouraging enrolment in mining curricula and skilled trades, working with post-secondary and Indigenous institutions, expanding experiential and co-operative training and addressing skilled-trade shortages. On June 4, 2026, Ontario announced nearly $8 million for northern training initiatives intended to reach more than 7,300 workers and jobseekers in sectors including mining and the skilled trades. The province is also supporting a $125-million permanent mine rescue training institute in Sudbury. 

The question is whether Canada’s mining and mineral education and talent system is being expanded with the same urgency with which governments are attempting to expand the industry itself. The federal government has already acknowledged the strategic nature of the problem. In establishing the Mining and Minerals Workforce Alliance, Ottawa explicitly connected a strong mining workforce with Canada’s critical minerals strategy, major projects, national security and economic growth. That recognition should now translate into greater attention to the institutions that educate much of that workforce. The human capital cannot be developed on the same timetable as many other industrial investments. A mine can receive financing, a processing plant can be approved, a road or transmission line can be constructed, but a highly qualified mining engineer, geologist, metallurgist, mineral-processing specialist or researcher cannot be produced overnight. Undergraduate education takes years. Advanced graduate training takes longer. Building internationally competitive research groups and specialized educational infrastructure can take decades. Federal and provincial governments therefore should consider workforce capacity before shortages become a constraint on projects, rather than after. 

There is another reason education deserves more attention: mining itself is changing. The modern industry increasingly intersects with artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), autonomous equipment, robotics, advanced mineral processing, remote operations, electrification, data analytics and low-carbon technologies. Mining industry does not need only more workers, it also needs people capable of operating at the intersection of mining, computing, energy, materials science, environmental stewardship and community partnership. 

This transformation is already visible in Canadian universities. At Queen’s University, for example, the Robert M. Buchan Department of Mining combines traditional engineering education with experiential learning, graduate research and professional programs covering areas such as mineral processing, mining technologies and data science. Its research increasingly addresses ML, battery-metal processing, robotics, automation, remote mining, mineral recovery, mine safety, low-carbon extraction and Indigenous partnership models. Queen’s mining overall enrolment increased significantly in recent years, from 70 in 2018 to 219 in 2026, but it is only one part of a much larger Canadian post-secondary ecosystem. Universities, colleges, polytechnics and Indigenous institutions have important roles in educating the engineers, geoscientists, technicians, tradespeople, researchers and community leaders required by the sector. But individual institutions cannot be expected to build national strategic capacity through isolated initiatives. Therefore, Canada may want to consider establishing a coordinated national initiative for mining and critical-minerals education and treat mining education as strategic infrastructure. It would not need to replicate the U.S. approach exactly. Canada’s geography, Indigenous relationships, educational system and industrial structure are different. But its ambition should reflect the scale of the opportunity. Such an initiative could bring federal and provincial governments together with universities, colleges, polytechnics, Indigenous institutes, industry and communities around several priorities. 

Given my work on mining workforce development with the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, and years spent advocating for stronger support for mining engineering programs, I see several practical steps Canada’s federal and provincial governments, along with industry, could take to strengthen the talent pipeline and modernize the sector: 

1. Expand the talent pipeline. Scholarships, graduate fellowships and paid experiential-learning opportunities could encourage more Canadians to study mining engineering, geology, metallurgy, environmental engineering, automation, data science and related disciplines. Mining companies should offer more summer internships and full‑time roles to international students educated at Canadian universities and other globally recognized institutions. These graduates represent a highly skilled and often underutilized source of future industry talent. 

2. Enhance mining education. Students entering the industry in the 2030s will increasingly work with autonomous systems, AI, advanced sensors, electrified equipment and sophisticated processing technologies. Educational and research infrastructure should reflect that reality. 

3. Strengthen university-industry research. Canada’s mines and mineral-processing operations can become an innovation network in which students, researchers and companies develop technologies with direct pathways to commercialization. 

4. Indigenous communities’ participation and collaboration should be foundational. Ontario’s strategy already recognizes the importance of culturally appropriate training and partnerships with Indigenous communities. Many important future mineral developments are located near Indigenous communities or on traditional territories. Education, research, training and capacity-building initiatives should therefore be developed through meaningful partnerships and shared decision-making. 

5. Mining, as the discipline, needs to be more visible to young Canadians. The sector somewhat still struggles with perceptions based on an earlier industrial era. Modern mining encompasses robotics, software, AI, environmental science, advanced materials, clean technology, community engagement and some of Canada’s most sophisticated engineering challenges. Students cannot choose careers they do not know exist. A great example of industry involvement is MiHR’s Mining Industry Experience (MiEX), a prominent two-week immersive program for STEM students. 

The latest announcement by the U.S. should be seen as evidence of where global competition for critical minerals is heading. Countries have already begun competing for mineral deposits, processing capacity and investment. Increasingly, they compete for talent. If critical minerals are strategic assets, then the people who discover, develop, process and transform them are strategic assets too, and there should be a significant investment in them accordingly. 

Other versions of this article may appear in other media outlets. Vladislav Kecojevic is a professor and head, the Noranda-Falconbridge Chair in Mine-Mechanical Engineering, The Robert M. Buchan Department of Mining, Smith Engineering, Queen’s University