Lomiko Metals, a company based in British Columbia, is to build an open-air graphite mine in La Petite-Nation, in the Outaouais region on the western edge of Quebec.
Once operational, the open-pit mine will produce 100,000 tonnes of graphite per year for 15 years.
In 2024, the ‘US Department of Defense’ announced it would invest US$8.3m in the project through their ‘Defense Production Act’ investment program, to ensure the availability of resources needed for US interests and their national defence.
That came alongside a US$20 million grant from the Pentagon to build a cobalt refinery in Ontario, and a further $6.4 million to build a bismuth and cobalt project in the Northwest Territories.
Initially, the concerns were about environmental and health concerns surrounding open-pit mining, but with the US military objectives becoming clear, opposition grew and residents cared even more about stopping the mine project.
In August 2025, a referendum showed that 95% of the people in the communities surrounding the mine opposed the project.
The US involvement in the project comes as Washington seeks to reduce its dependence on China for critical minerals. The military needs graphite for use in military components that need extreme heat resistance and durability.
Right-wing think tanks like the Heritage Foundation and Rand have spent the past five years urging the government to stockpile these materials to ease its reliance on adversaries like China, which currently dominates the global critical minerals market.
With Trump’s National Security Strategy published in November 2025 that spells out the US plan for domination over the Western Hemisphere, Trump’s repeated threats to annex Canada and turn the country into it’s 51st state, and more recently, the US military’s illegal invasion and abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in Caracas on the weekend, fears are growing that US investment in these projects and expressed desire to become more independent of China, puts Canadian sovereignty at greater risk.
To quote one person opposed to the Petite-Nation project: “They are coming in to get our minerals to put in their weapons to then annex us.”
Source:
January 5, 2026
Sara Hashemi, The Guardian: ‘Our minerals could be used to annex us’: why Canada doesn’t want US mining https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/05/our-minerals-could-be-used-to-annex-us-why-canada-doesnt-want-us-mining
December 26, 2025
Sophie Hurwits, Mother Jones: The Pentagon is hoarding critical minerals that could power the clean energy transition https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/12/the-pentagon-is-hoarding-critical-minerals-that-could-power-the-clean-energy-transition/
August 21, 2024
Leyland Cecco, The Guardian: US military announces $20m grant to build cobalt refinery in Canada https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/aug/21/us-military-cobalt-refinery-canada
National Security Strategy of the United States of America, November 2025 (.pdf) https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/2025-National-Security-Strategy.pdf