The federal government has committed up to $400 million to support Teck Resources Limited’s planned expansion at its Trail Operations in British Columbia to double the production of germanium and antimony while adding, for the first time, gallium production. 

The funding, announced on July 7 by Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Tim Hodgson at the Trail Operations smelting and refining complex, will come from the Canada Growth Fund (CGF) as part of a potential $850 million investment by Teck to expand Trail’s strategic critical minerals processing capacity. 

The agreement marks the first investment under the newly launched Canada Critical Minerals Accelerator (formerly the Critical Minerals Sovereign Fund), a $2 billion federal program introduced in Budget 2025. 

“Our new Canada Critical Minerals Accelerator is about turning Canadian resource abundance into real projects by giving industry the certainty they need to invest and grow, even in a volatile global market,” Hodgson said in a July 7 press release. 

Expanding strategic mineral production 

According to Teck, its Trail Operations is one of the world’s largest integrated polymetallic smelting and refining complexes and currently produces 19 different products. It is Canada’s only producer of germanium and North America’s largest producer of the critical mineral, recovering it as a byproduct of zinc processing. It is also the only supplier of germanium dioxide to the United States. In addition to germanium, the facility produces antimony. The proposed expansion is part of the Trail Strategic Metals Initiative, which would increase production capacity for germanium and antimony while establishing new gallium processing capability. Gallium is used in high-performance semiconductors, radar systems, next-generation electronics and telecommunications technologies, while germanium is used in fibre optics, infrared optics and semiconductor applications. Antimony is used in batteries, flame retardants and alloys. 

Teck president and CEO Jonathan Price said the company has not yet established a timeline for when Trail could begin producing gallium. 

“Teck’s Trail Operations is a cornerstone of North America’s critical minerals ecosystem,” Price said in a statement. “By leveraging Trail’s existing infrastructure and expertise, this initiative has the potential to deliver a new supply of strategic metals.” 

 Beyond partly financing the expansion, the federal government can negotiate an offtake arrangement for a portion of the future germanium, antimony and gallium produced at Trail. 

The investment was described by press material as an “equity-like” financing structure, which allows the federal government to “generate investment returns that can be re-invested into more projects that create benefits for Canadians.”  

Broader investment pusHThe Trail investment is the latest in a series of federal commitments aimed at expanding Canada’s critical minerals sector and domestic processing capacity. In recent weeks, the federal government announced a $500 million investment in Newmont’s provincially approved Red Chris block cave expansion in British Columbia and $459 million in debt financing for Nouveau Monde Graphite’s Matawinie project in Quebec. 

The Trail Strategic Metals Initiative has also been designated as one of British Columbia’s 18 priority resource projects under the province’s Look West economic strategy, potentially allowing for streamlined permitting and access to additional provincial support.