The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday edition that Canada Nickel is developing the Crawford nickel project near Timmins, Ont. The Globe's Tim Kiladze writes that Canada Nickel has secured what hardly any of its rivals can, money. Early this year, it was able to raise $22-million through a share sale to public investors, and another $24-million through a direct investment. It will need much more to develop the project -- likely billions of dollars -- but what it has raised so far could be the difference between life and death, because the financing taps for critical-minerals have all but dried up. Chief executive officer Mark Selby says, "The pool of money that's available for mining has shrunk dramatically." Mr. Kiladze says mining has lost its lustre. There are fewer investment banks providing research coverage of up-and-coming mining companies, and fewer investment advisers paying attention to the sector. Politicians can talk about the critical-minerals crisis all they want, but until private capital is willing to touch the sector again, all the warnings about China's dominance amount to little more than screaming into the wind. The junior mining sector has been hurt by the retreat of retail investors.