Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s deputy prime minister, said her government is closely watching Glencore Plc’s unsolicited US$23 billion offer to buy Canadian miner Teck Resources Ltd., indicating the deal has caught the attention of top policymakers.

Freeland said the nation needs companies like Teck in Canada as it prepares for the future of mining critical minerals key to the energy transition. Freeland, who is also finance minister, added that Canada welcomes and depends on international trade and investment, with the domestic mining sector relying on many important multinational corporations.

“Teck is Canada’s largest diversified mining company, with assets of central importance to our country as we expand our critical minerals value chain and build a clean economy,” Freeland, Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson wrote in a letter Monday to the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade. “The mining of critical minerals is key to the future and only companies that make serious commitments to ESG and strong partnerships with Indigenous Peoples will succeed.”

Teck is days away from a shareholder vote to approve its plan to split the coal business from the base metals assets. 

The president of the Vancouver trade board wrote to the ministers expressing “concern” over Glencore’s potential acquisition and its impact on the local and national economies.