No national security issue in Chinese takeover of Canadian lithium company: Liberals

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Published January 20, 2022 at 6:08 pm

OTTAWA — The federal Liberals say the pending takeover of a Canadian lithium mining company by a Chinese state-owned company raises no national security concerns.

Liberal MP Andy Fillmore, parliamentary secretary to Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne, says Neo Lithium Corp. is not really a Canadian company.

He says it only registered here to get on the Toronto Stock Exchange in a bid to raise money for what he called a “dubious” mine development project in Argentina.

Moreover, Fillmore says that mine involves lithium carbonate, not the lithium hydroxide used to manufacture batteries that are critical for electric vehicles.

Consequently, he says the company’s takeover by China’s Zijin Mining Group Ltd. is “irrelevant” to Canada’s national security.

Neo Lithium Corp. itself describes the mine as “the pre-eminent lithium brine asset in the world” to meet global demand for electric vehicle batteries. to meet this demand.

Fillmore made the argument today at an emergency meeting of the House of Commons industry committee, triggered by the Conservatives who want to know why no formal national security review was conducted last fall even though Canada has deemed lithium to be a critical mineral essential to this country’s economy.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 20, 2022.

The Canadian Press

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