Finance News Follow us to find the latest Finance news
Justin Trudeau’s authorities hasn’t even issued its first budget yet. But Michael Gravelle said he is already “very encouraged” it’ll play a powerful role in growth and development of Ontario’s “Ring of Fire” mineral belt.
“I’m feeling very tolerant of the federal government role coming forward with the Ring of fireside,” Gravelle, Ontario’s minister of northern development and mines, said within an interview.
Gravelle said he’s a great working relationship with James Carr, the federal natural resources minister, and expects to possess more discussions with him concerning the Ring of Fire this week at the PDAC show.
Related
- Read our entire coverage of PDAC 2016Top ‘Ring of Fire’ miner threatens to prevent project unless Ontario, First Nations make progress
The Ring of fireside holds massive deposits of chromite and other minerals, but it’s located in the remote James Bay Lowlands and requires major infrastructure (including roads) to become a viable mining camp.
Ontario has dedicated to spending $1 billion on Ring of fireside infrastructure, and asked Ottawa to do exactly the same when Stephen Harper was prime minister. The Harper government was unwilling to achieve this until it saw some progress in key areas, including negotiations with impacted First Nations communities.
It isn’t any secret that the Trudeau government includes a better working relationship with Ontario than Harper’s did, and contains also committed to spending billions on infrastructure. Which has raised some hopes in Ontario it might purchase the Ring of Fire soon.
Gravelle spoke at an event on Sunday to mark the 125th anniversary of the Ontario Geological Survey, which has published a lot more than 10,000 geoscience maps.
