Ontario’s bid to lead in the critical minerals boom in Canada is fuelled with funding increases and deregulation goals in a new mining code. Yet the province must still widen education and mining’s appeal, industry leaders said last week in London.
This year saw Iamgold (TSX: IMG; NYSE: IAG) start the $3 billion-capex Côté mine followed by Equinox Gold’s (TSX: EQX; NYSE: EQX) 400,000-oz.-a-year Greenstone gold mine as Queens Park counted around C$44 billion promised by car makers such as Toyota and Stellantis (NYSE: STLA) for new battery plants and assembly lines. The developments coincided with efforts to quicken permitting and feed northern minerals to southern factories.
“Mining must move at the pace of business, not bureaucracy,” Ontario Minister of Mines George Pirie said at The Northern Miner’s International Metals Symposium on Dec. 2. “The new mining act is all about how we can shorten the time to get permits across the line, so we build these mines quicker, both for gold and critical minerals,” Pirie said.
Ontario is modernizing permitting, Pirie said on a panel showcasing the province’s gold mining, with Equinox chair Ross Beaty and Iamgold CEO Renaud Adams. Miners can take advantage of Ontario’s green energy grid while the government invests in education to address labor shortages and boost mining investment, he said.
Beaty, who has worked in 18 other countries, lauded the province’s history in mining as a foundation for the industry.
[More]
