CDN NEWS | 
US NEWS 
“Ontario has the minerals the world needs.”
By Maureen McCall
The Ontario government’s April 2025 Speech from the Throne moved development of Northern Ontario’s mineral wealth forward with a designation of areas containing critical mineral deposits, including the Ring of Fire, as regions of strategic importance. It was an official response to U.S. President Trump’s tariff turmoil, stating that “As Ontario and Canada confront the challenge of President Trump’s economic disruption, there’s no better point of leverage on the world stage.”
As further stated in the address:
“The frontline in Canada’s battle against President Trump’s economic threats rests in the Ring of Fire. Covering approximately 5,000 square kilometres, the Ring of Fire contains the most promising mineral development opportunities in the world, representing billions in economic potential. The region includes reserves of chromite, copper, cobalt, nickel, platinum and every other mineral necessary for the growth of advanced economies.”
The key to accessing the billions in economic potential was clearly stated as the need to get critical minerals out of the ground, processed in Ontario and “shipped to factory floors” in improved timelines. The intention is to change the red tape and duplicative federal approval processes that can take up to 15 years to complete and to introduce bold new legislation. The speech reaffirmed the government’s commitment to meeting its duty to consult requirements as well as intentions to streamline approvals for the building of roads, highways and the infrastructure necessary for area development.
These actions were promised by Premier Doug Ford as he campaigned for re-election earlier this year in February at a campaign stop in Thunder Bay. One of Ford’s campaign pledges was a promise to launch a new First Nations Opportunities Financing Program, effectively tripling the existing $1 billion provincial Aboriginal Loan Guarantee Program and expanding eligible projects to include resource extraction and development.
But first- a little history of the area
Exploration in Ontario’s Ring of Fire has been ongoing since 2003. In 2007, Richard Nemis of Noront Resources (renamed Ring of Fire Metals, after its acquisition by Wyloo Metals of Australia) announced a major discovery of nickel-copper-platinum-palladium -what is now the Eagle’s Nest deposit.
By 2011, thirty-five junior companies were active in the area, and one was American iron ore behemoth Cliffs Natural Resources. In 2011, environmental assessments by the Canadian federal and Ontario provincial governments began for Cliffs Natural Resources’ proposed Black Thor Project and Noront Resources’ Eagles Nest.
Cliffs abruptly ended work on its Ring of Fire properties in 2013, after spending $550 million to acquire and explore a large number of claims. The company pulled out of Canada, not only in the Ring of Fire but also its iron ore projects- possibly due to the impossibly slow timelines, high cost of infrastructure development and federal and provincial environmental assessments. One example of a lengthy delay is that in March 2015, the Ontario government announced it was moving forward with an all-weather road into the Ring of Fire. By 2017, only 2 years later, with more than $750,000 in tax dollars spent, not much had been accomplished. The province had consulted with various First Nations but had failed to announce a plan, route or schedule for construction.
“It’s a challenge right now, getting through the consultation process, and the timeframes are unfortunately way longer than we’d hope they’d be,” Steve Flewelling, acting CEO for Ring of Fire Metals, said back in 2022. When asked when nickel mining might start in the Ring of Fire, Flewelling said that it was difficult to say. The reason he said was that there was no definitive timetable when a 200-kilometre north-south road to the Ring of Fire would be ready.
Fast-forward to 2025
As of March 2025, it is reported that “two of the three Indigenous-led environmental assessments of the access roads to the Ring of Fire are nearly complete, but the third is expected to take three more years, followed by a decade of construction”. The road network is still in the detailed engineering and environmental assessment (EA) stage, led by two area First Nations, Marten Falls and Webequie. The timing of the completion of road building and the start of mining production must be coordinated. The conclusion is that the Ring of Fire access roads may not be completed until 2040. That’s just the timeline for roads, not the timeline to begin mining, which is contingent on completion of the road.
Meanwhile, governments, including the U.S., Ontario and Canada, are in a “Gold Rush” to secure supply chains of critical minerals, with the U.S. looking as far away as Ukraine. As one example, copper is a mineral that is subject to a global shortage of supply, with copper demand rising sharply due to its key role in the global energy transition. While copper demand is rising, supply is not keeping pace, creating speculation that the world is on the path to peak copper. Copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt and other critical minerals are essential to and could be called the “bedrocks” of technological advancement.
Get back to Agreement, not Roadblocks.
There is a huge amount of work ahead to reform the regulatory environment to avoid prolonged delays and huge costs to shovel-ready mine projects that could be put into production with shorter timelines. One area of reform is to resolve the federal government’s disagreement with provincial governments and the federal use of regulatory and funding to roadblock development.
In the case of the Ring of Fire, Federal Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson implemented Regional Assessments (RA) as part of the Impact Assessment (IA) process in 2022, which was first called for by Ottawa in 2020. The RA has contributed to slowing the IA process. Then, in July 2023, the federal government disagreed on priorities for federal funding of the Ring of Fire. Federal Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson asserted that the Ring of Fire project is situated in a region of “vast, environmentally sensitive…peatlands” and stated that they would prioritize other areas of development, such as the Georgia Lake lithium project, northeast of Thunder Bay, KGHM’s Victoria mine proposal, west of Sudbury.
Following the recent federal election, Wilkinson will continue to serve as Canada’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources under Prime Minister Mark Carney, at least for the time being. While campaigning, Pierre Poilievre, the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, promised that he would support speeding up federal mining permits and building a road linking the Ring of Fire to the Ontario highway network, but lost his seat and his vote in the House of Commons until a byelection is called.
Consultations with First Nations and the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (IAAC) over regional assessments are complex and have been a source of long delays. Nine Matawa First Nations own the territory in which the Ring of Fire is located and have been described as “some of the most socioeconomically disadvantaged communities in all of Canada,” reinforcing the importance of solid Impact Benefit Agreements (IBA). IBAs not only mitigate potential negative impacts, but more importantly, they can secure robust and lasting economic and social benefits for the community.
First Nations are reported to have been upset by Premier Doug Ford’s actions to start road building, even though many remote First Nation regions do not have roads and are currently air-access-only. It is reported that access to the Ring of Fire area requires 450 kilometres of new roads. In January 2025, almost five years after Ottawa first called for a Regional Assessment of the Ring of Fire, the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (IAAC) and 15 First Nations have defined an RA purpose and a plan. Time will tell if Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s plan to designate the Ring of Fire as one of the regions of strategic importance will reduce delays and stimulate progress.
Maureen McCall is an energy professional who writes on issues affecting the energy industry.
Share This:
Why is Canada Not Doing Better? – Resource Works