Carney says $1B critical-mineral processing project coming, heads to South Africa G20

By Canadian Press on November 20, 2025.

ABU DHABI — Prime Minister Mark Carney says Canada is working on a project aimed at expanding critical minerals processing capacity in Canada, which he says will be valued at more than $1 billion.

Carney told business leaders in Abu Dhabi that the agreement is still being finalized, and aims to create jobs in Canada.

He spoke this morning to the Canada-UAE Business Council, to personally invite Emirati investors to visit him in Canada to spur more major projects.

Carney says Canada and the Gulf nations are aligned as trading nations and energy superpowers who are going green.

He also tells reporters that he raised the Sudan civil war with senior UAE officials, who deny accusations they are fuelling ethnic violence in that country.

Carney’s speech comes just hours before flying to South Africa for the G20 leaders’ summit, where the Trump administration says it will have no senior American officials present.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 21, 2025.

Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press