Road to the Ring of Fire. Image credit: Maureen O’Mahoney Twitter page
Toronto/CMEDIA: Ontario made the announcement today at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) annual convention in Toronto that Terms of Reference designed and submitted by Webequie First Nation and Marten Falls First Nation for an all-season, multi-use road connecting to the proposed Ring of Fire mining development area, has been approved by the Ontario government, a news release said.
Connecting the two First Nations communities, and the critical mineral deposits in the Ring of Fire to the Ontario highway network. the Northern Road Link will facilitate to secure a supply chain for electric vehicle manufacturing in Ontario.
George Pirie, Minister of Mines thanked Webequie First Nation and Marten Falls First Nation for leading the Environmental Assessment for this essential road corridor and added,
“I value our partnership with these strong leaders who are central to our government’s mandate to develop the Ring of Fire…The Ring of Fire has the critical minerals we need to build our manufacturing supply chain, including nickel for electric vehicles and chromite for clean steel. Our government’s investments in innovation and infrastructure are creating jobs across the entire province, including northern and Indigenous communities.”
Approximately $1 billion has been dedicated by Ontario to support critical legacy infrastructure in the Ring of Fire area including constructing all‑season roads, and investing in high-speed internet, road upgrades and community supports.
As part of a historic partnership with the province of Ontario, Marten Falls and Webequie First Nations are co-leading the planning of the Northern Road Link project in connecting the Ring of Fire’s critical mineral deposits with manufacturing hubs in the south, enabling made-in-Ontario supply chains for batteries and electric vehicles.
“Tomorrow’s clean, green jobs depend on meaningful partnerships we’ve built with First Nations communities and our government looks forward to continuing to work closely with them to unlock this immense potential in the north while ensuring strong environmental protections remain in place, “said David Piccini, Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks.
Greg Rickford, Minister of Northern Development and Minister of Indigenous Affairs reportedly said that working with Indigenous partners would provide tremendous opportunities of significant ecoomic growth to supply energy and leverage health, economic and social benefits.
Recipients of the Critical Minerals Innovation Fund were also announced by the province during the convention.
Ontario-based companies that are leading the development of new mining technologies focused on building the critical minerals supply chain and doing ground-breaking work in mining and processing would be supported by the $5 million fund.
“Through the Critical Minerals Innovation Fund, we’re connecting the critical minerals of the north with the manufacturing might of the south, increasing our competitive advantage and ensuring Ontario remains a global leader in the mining sector,” said Vic Fedeli, Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade.
Critical minerals projects receiving funding include:
- $500,000 to Frontier Lithium Inc. to help develop innovative lithium processing techniques and establish lithium mining and mineral processing in Ontario for use in battery and EV manufacturing supply chains.
- $500,000 to Vale Canada Ltd. to develop bioleaching techniques for reprocessing tailings to extract nickel and cobalt from mine waste and to help increase battery metals supply.
- $500,000 to Ring of Fire Metals Pty Ltd. to test the feasibility of repurposing and storing all tailings materials underground in the form of backfill in mine workings.
- $500,000 to EV Nickel Inc. to demonstrate that bioleach extraction and recovery of battery metals such as Nickel and Cobalt is a lower cost, low carbon footprint process with less environmental impacts.
- $475,000 to Carbonix Inc. – an Indigenous-owned company – to help refine the process for converting mining waste, petroleum coke and other byproducts into high-energy density graphite for use in battery anode and cathode supply chains.
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