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.”
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