The Proceedings includes research from the symposium held at the Conference of Metallurgy & Materials.   This volume spans a wide range of the critical materials ecosystem. Readers will find discussions on commodities such as lithium (from both brines and mineral resources), rare earth elements (processing and separation), nickel/cobalt/manganese, and vanadium, among others (such as battery recycling). In addition to exciting developments in harnessing these critical materials, industrial perspectives on project development, commercialization/scale-up, operational performance, intellectual property trends, and public policy initiatives supporting critical minerals development form a basis for lively discussion. As global demand for critical minerals continues to grow—alongside the list of what is considered “critical”—the development of practical, sustainable, and economically viable processes to provide them at scale remains a focus. The contributions in these proceedings reflect the urgency, complexity, and opportunity associated with critical materials value chains.

The Metallurgy and Materials Society: Metallurgists have been active in the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) since its inception in 1898. In 1945, the Metallurgy Division was formed to reflect the group’s technical interests. Constituted as a society in 1967, MetSoc has grown to become one of the premier global organizations serving the international metallurgy and materials community. Its annual Conference of Metallurgy & Materials (COM) is a preeminent event on the international metallurgy meeting calendar. In partnership with sister societies, MetSoc is also a lead organizer of key world-class conference series such as Nickel-Cobalt, Copper and Lead-Zinc.