The Financial Post reports in its Wednesday edition that a group of battery metal exploration companies and start-ups wants to turbocharge Canada's critical minerals sector by building out "mid-stream" mineral processing facilities in Western Canada. The Post's Gabriel Friedman writes that two reports published by the Battery Metals Association of Canada, which hired analysts at the Transition Accelerator to consult with their members, identified nine critical minerals -- copper, graphite, iron, nickel, lithium, phosphate, rare earths and vanadium -- and five regions where they see opportunities for major projects. For example, British Columbia has at least four producing copper mines, which all ship their copper concentrate overseas, primarily to China, because there are no smelters in Western Canada. Building a copper smelter could encourage copper production and exploration while also creating higher-value products to sell, the reports said. B.C.'s Kootenays region is emerging as a potential battery recycling hub, with Teck's zinc smelter already anchoring a base of metallurgical knowledge. Vancouver boasts tech start-ups focused on batteries, while Northern B.C. has mines, but lacks mid-stream processing.