Key Takeaways:
The G7 named nickel one of only two pilot minerals for a new allied traceability framework, unlocking government-backed financing that could accelerate North American projects like First Atlantic Nickel & Cobalt Corp.'s Pipestone XL in Newfoundland.
The G7 Leaders' Declaration on Securing Supply Chains for Critical Minerals, issued June 17 at the summit in Évian, France, designated nickel and lithium as the first two pilot minerals for a new G7-wide traceability framework. The group also committed its member governments to mobilize equity investment, guarantees and offtake to close the pre-2030 investment gap, and established a new G7 Critical Minerals Resilience and Production Alliance to coordinate financing and diversification across allied jurisdictions.
"Nickel and cobalt are two of Canada's six priority critical minerals, singled out from a list of 31," First Atlantic Nickel & Cobalt Corp. said in a statement on June 19. The company's Pipestone XL project in central Newfoundland hosts awaruite, a naturally occurring nickel-iron-cobalt alloy that can be processed through magnetic separation without smelting, roasting or high-pressure acid leaching.
The G7 declaration set a target of reducing dependence on any single non-G7 supplier of rare earths and permanent magnets to below 60 percent by 2030, with a longer-term objective of 50 percent, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies. China controls an estimated 85 to 91 percent of global rare earth refining and processes between 47 and 87 percent of vital resources including copper, lithium, cobalt and rare earth elements. The G7 said it had launched 195 critical minerals initiatives since the start of 2026, representing €64 billion ($73.5 billion) in investments, equity stakes and offtake agreements.
Nickel's Strategic Elevation
Nickel was added to the U.S. critical minerals list in 2022, recognizing it as a non-fuel mineral essential to economic and national security with a supply chain vulnerable to disruption. The G7's decision to make nickel a pilot mineral for traceability — alongside lithium — places it at the center of Western efforts to build alternative supply chains outside of China's dominant processing infrastructure.
First Atlantic's Pipestone XL project spans the entire 30-kilometer Pipestone Ophiolite Complex, where the company has identified multiple awaruite zones. The RPM Zone returned electron microprobe results averaging 77.62 percent nickel and 1.69 percent cobalt, according to SGS Canada Inc. analysis released May 21. The company's discovery hole at the Alloy Max Zone, XL-26-15, intersected visibly disseminated awaruite over its entire 414-meter length and ended in open mineralization, with visual abundance and grain size increasing down hole.
Awaruite's Processing Advantage
Awaruite is a sulfur-free nickel-iron-cobalt alloy that can be concentrated to approximately 60 percent nickel through magnetic separation and flotation, bypassing conventional smelting. The U.S. Geological Survey highlighted awaruite's potential in its 2012 Mineral Commodity Summaries, noting that the natural alloy "is much easier to concentrate than pentlandite, the principal sulfide of nickel." The absence of sulfur reduces the risk of acid mine drainage and certain permitting challenges commonly associated with sulfide mineralization.
The G7's push to diversify critical mineral supply chains comes as Western nations face a difficult path to building independent processing capacity. Japan, the largest rare earth magnet producer outside of China, has spent more than 15 years working to de-risk its supply chains and was still the world's largest importer of Chinese rare earth metals in 2024, according to CSIS. Lynas Rare Earths shelved its heavy rare earth processing facility in Seadrift, Texas, in 2025 after years of permitting troubles and rising costs.
For First Atlantic, the G7 declaration provides a policy backdrop that could support project financing and offtake agreements as the company advances drilling at the Alloy Max Zone and continues to evaluate the Pipestone XL project's geologic hydrogen potential through a proposed joint venture with Vema Hydrogen.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
