Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre speaks in Sudbury, Ont., on March 19.Gino Donato/The Canadian Press
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says he’ll commit $1-billion to co-fund roads into the Ring of Fire and speed up permitting, but the Australian mining company at the heart of the main project in the area is non-committal about moving forward on the long-stalled development in Ontario’s Far North.
The Ring of Fire, located 550 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, has long been promoted by politicians and some in the mining industry as holding a treasure trove of mineral riches that are crucial to Canada’s critical-minerals ambitions.
But despite attempts by multiple large companies to move the project forward since a junior company made a promising nickel discovery in 2007, mining hasn’t yet occurred.
A major obstacle has been the lack of basic infrastructure, such as grid power and roads in what is a remote forested region of the province mainly populated by First Nations.
If Mr. Poilievre becomes prime minister in the coming federal election, and he follows through on his promise to provide the road funding, this would be the first time that both levels of government have agreed to finance a key part of the infrastructure.
Ontario has already promised to commit about $1-billion into funding the roads and Premier Doug Ford has long needled the federal Liberals into making a commitment.
The Ring of Fire is located about 300 kilometres north of the provincial highway network. Three sections of road have been proposed that would connect it to the network, and also tie several First Nations into that system.
Webequie and Marten Falls First Nations, which are both leading federal environmental assessments into sections of the road construction, said in a joint statement that they welcomed the commitment from Mr. Poilievre, which also includes a provision for mining companies to share a portion of the taxes they pay with First Nations.
“This investment responds directly to requests made by both First Nations for funding and aligns with their long-standing efforts to lead the development of sustainable infrastructure that will connect our communities, unlock critical resources, and create long-term economic opportunities,” they said in the statement.
For Wyloo Pty Ltd., the Australian company that owns the most promising mining assets in the region, the funding of roads by both levels of government would remove one level of uncertainty over the economics of the project, because that is the only viable option for shipping ore out of the Ring of Fire.
“I can’t think of a period of time in my tenure here, or in the tenure of the project, where we have had as much political support from the provincial perspective, and the potential for developing a federal level of support that is significantly different from the positioning of the current Liberal government,” Kristan Straub, chief executive Canada of Wyloo, said in an interview.
Wyloo’s Eagle’s Nest nickel project is one of the few discoveries in the Ring of Fire where a feasibility study was conducted that showed the deposit could be economical to mine. Eagle’s Nest, however, has a short proven mine life of only 11 years, with the potential to expand production by an additional nine years. By comparison, there are nickel operations in Sudbury that have been in operation for more than 100 years.
Wyloo is conducting a new feasibility study on the project as the previous one dates to 2012. Mr. Straub said there is no guarantee that the company will end up building the mine.
“I can’t say that we will definitively build the operation,” he said.
The long time frames in Canada around conducting environmental studies is a major factor clouding development.
There are seven different federal and provincial studies under way looking at the impact of the roads and mining in the region. Some have been going on since around 2020, and aren’t due to be completed for several more years. After the federal impact-assessment process is completed, permits are typically granted by the government, but there is no standard timeline for their issuance.
Mr. Poilievre said Wednesday that his goal is to greenlight all federal permits for the Ring of Fire within six months.
Excessive red tape has long been an issue for the Canadian mining industry, but the Ring of Fire has always been a particularly difficult case study.
That’s partly because many Indigenous communities are part of the constitutionally mandated consultation process. In one federal regional assessment study under way, 15 First Nations are being consulted. And while some First Nations are open to development, others have rejected it outright, because of the impact mining may have on the environment and traditional hunting grounds.