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Minister Rickford Adamant to Involve First Nations in Ring of Fire Development
Webequie First Nation Chief Cornelius Wabasse, Marten Falls First Nation Chief Bruce Achneepineskum, Ontario Premier Doug Ford, and Energy, Northern Development and Mines and Indigenous Affairs Minister Greg Rickford at PDAC 2020. Credit: Government of Ontario
Ontario’s Minister of Northern Development and Mines is being totally transparent when it comes down to how he feels about the storied Ring of Fire mining region – he sees it happening - and he’d like it to be sooner than later.
In a Zoom webcast with northern Ontario party members September 21st, Greg Rickford was asked to update progress on the Ring of Fire. He pointed out that the First Nations communities of Webequie and Marten Falls are central to the process.
“Since then, they have taken leadership roles in the environmental assessment process specifically for those corridors pertinent to them,” he added.“
This has been a frustrating file for me,” Rickford told attendees. “Now and during my federal capacity (as a former MP for the region) we haven’t seen the progress that, now especially, the market is demanding. So we are hopeful that if we focus on building a road, legacy infrastructure, that a mine will follow.”
Rickford didn’t mince words when he expressed his feelings about the previous Ontario Liberal governments impact on the Ring of Fire potential.
“I think the previous government was more interested in framework agreements for agreements to build framework that would give you an agreement to build a framework for the Ring of Fire – something like that.
I know that millions and millions of dollars were spent and there’s no shovels in the ground and as we speak, the road going north past Aroland is under construction under the auspices of winter road and is in fact the start of the corridor into northern Ontario.”
Rickford says the road will lead to other social, health and economic benefits for the region. “It’s no secret that those communities are not part of the Watay Power distribution, they’ll need a power supply as will mining operations up there.
It doesn’t make any sense to focus on diesel generation. We’ve got other opportunities ranging from natural gas to SMR’s and or an electricity network built out from Geraldton,” said Rickford, whose cabinet portfolio also includes Energy and First Nations relations.
“If we can do that, it protects the roads from the regional assessment, this sounds very bureaucratic but in my mind its very clear and we can actually get down to the business of building a corridor into that place.”
“We are working very closely with Greenstone and Greenstone Gold,” said Rickford. “There’s an improving possibility that Greenstone Gold could hear about construction plans in the not too distant future. And if we do that, we could see a situation where Greenstone would become an epicentre, or the center of gravity for development into the Ring of Fire.
The timelines fit, we now have, not just the enthusiasm but the active participation by member communities and we’re more hopeful than we’ve ever been - and the market as well."
Rickford believes key players like Noront and others know that he and Premier Doug Ford have been working closely with all stakeholders in an effort to make certain the Ring of Fire development benefits everyone.“
Noront says there are new investors that are ready to do this because they think they are working with a government that has signaled loud and clear to the mining sector that we are ready to transform and take Ontario’s rightful place in mining. If our track record is any indication – I think we are in a good space.”
