Ontario vows more cash to boost mining

Ontario Mines and Energy Minister Stephen Lecce is promising to announce more support for the industry at its biggest convention this month after recent permit acceleration and infrastructure spending.

The province upgraded Kinross Gold’s (TSX: K; NYSE: KGC) Great Bear project to its One Project One Process framework this month. It has approved C$140 million ($102.3 million) to prep road construction to the remote Ring of Fire region, earmarked billions for new high-capacity power transmission lines and placed C$500 million in a fund to build mineral processing plants.

“You can expect the province to announce significant investments in infrastructure to support and enable economic development and responsible resource development in the North,” Energy and Mines Minister Stephen Lecce told MINING.COM’s sister publication The Northern Miner ahead of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada annual gathering in Toronto March 1-4.

Premier Doug Ford’s government has elevated mining to the forefront of Ontario’s economic agenda to thwart US tariffs, supply domestic industry and create jobs. It started the One Project One Process framework last year to cut approval times to two years by coordinating ministries, Indigenous and federal consent after reports showed mine approvals can take more than a decade.

Dual track

“Our government is working diligently to diversify export markets for commodities while attracting more value-added investment, including processing here at home,” Lecce said by phone. “That dual track of incentivizing foreign investment, creating the conditions for capital to flow back to the province after the last decade is critical to restoring confidence.”

Critics arguing that Ontario is trampling the environment and First Nations in its speed should regard how the government wants First Nations to take equity positions in mining projects, he said. It’s part of a strategy to mine ethically while reducing dependence on China which dominates metal processing after its decades of lower environmental standards. 

“The premier is very committed to fulfilling that obligation so the First Nations are not just consulted, but they’re co-owners of the project,” the minister said. “We are demonstrating that we can move with speed, we can unlock our resources, we can upgrade tens of thousands of jobs, and we can stand up to President Trump or to the likes of the Chinese regime.”

Great Bear

The C$1.4-billion capex Great Bear, 500 km northwest of Thunder Bay near Red Lake, a town with a long mining history, is the first gold project in the program for expedited permits. It joins Canada Nickel’s (TSXV: CNC; US-OTC: CNIKF) Crawford project added in January and Frontier Lithium’s (TSXV: FL; US-OTC: LITOF) PAK project confirmed in October.

“This designation facilitates a more integrated and streamlined path forward as we advance the permitting of this world-class mine towards commercial production in consultation with Indigenous communities,” Kinross CEO J. Paul Rollinson said in a release this month. “Great Bear is a generational asset and positioned to become one of Canada’s largest and most profitable gold mines.”

Toronto-based Kinross, which by market capitalization ranks among the top five Canada-domiciled gold producers, is developing Great Bear to produce 518,000 oz. gold a year by 2029 at an all-in sustaining cost of $812 per oz., according to a 2024 preliminary economic assessment. That would be in the leading handful of Canadian producers by output and among those with the lowest cost.

Power lines

The Great Bear designation ties in with provincial work on the Red Lake Transmission Line that would run from Dryden to Red Lake to power new mines and growing communities, the province said. Electricity demand in the region north of Dryden, which includes Red Lake, is forecast to grow by up to 250% by 2050 from its current level, driven largely by the expected growth in the mining sector, according to the province.

In January, the province committed C$70 million for early work on the Greenstone Transmission Line, a 230-km, 230-kilovolt project intended to deliver 350–700 MW of power from Nipigon to Aroland First Nation for Ring of Fire mining. The multi-hundred-million-dollar line includes a 50% equity ownership stake for local First Nations.

The province started taking applications in December for its Critical Minerals Processing Fund to help projects like Rock Tech Lithium’s (TSXV: RCK; FSE: RJIB) proposed C$1.6-billion converter near its Georgia Lake project 110 km northeast of Thunder Bay.

“We’re also unlocking the Ring of Fire, nearly 8,000 sq. km, one of the largest undeveloped critical mineral regions on Earth,” Lecce said. “Our message to the world is that Ontario, and Canada, is emerging as the most reliable, ethical and open-for-business jurisdiction in the Western world.”