A subcontractor works on an excavator at the Nouveau Monde Graphite Matawinie Mine site in Saint Michel des Saints, Que.

Ottawa will start stockpiling graphite and scandium produced domestically as part of its new $2-billion push to finance critical minerals mines and processing plants in Canada in a bid to challenge Chinese dominance and ease Western anxieties over supply shortfalls.

At the close of the G7 summit of energy ministers held in Toronto last week, the federal government announced it would begin stockpiling as part of a suite of new tools to strengthen Canada’s critical minerals sector, but the specific minerals were not disclosed.

Greg Frame, senior communications adviser for Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson, told The Globe and Mail on Wednesday that some of the

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