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Doug Ford announces $5.8M for mineral exploration during Sault stop (Updated)

'Through these targeted investments, we’re building a made-in-Ontario supply chain ecosystem, connecting the minerals needed to make EV batteries to the automakers and battery manufacturers leading the transition,' Ford said while visiting Sault Ste. Marie Thursday.

 

Ontario Premier Doug Ford stopped at SIS Manufacturing Corp. in Sault Ste. Marie Thursday to announce $5.8 million to help junior mining companies explore for critical minerals used in manufacturing batteries for electric vehicles, smartphones, pharmaceuticals and advanced manufacturing technologies. James Hopkin/SooToday

The Ontario government is providing $5.8 million to help junior mining companies explore for critical minerals used in manufacturing batteries for electric vehicles, smartphones, pharmaceuticals and advanced manufacturing technologies. 

Premier Doug Ford was joined by Minister of Mines and Timmins MPP George Pirie and Sault MP Ross Romano at SIS Manufacturing Corp. in Sault Ste. Marie Thursday to make the announcement. 

“Through these targeted investments, we’re building a made-in-Ontario supply chain ecosystem, connecting the minerals needed to make EV batteries to the automakers and battery manufacturers leading the transition,” Ford said during his appearance in the Sault Thursday.

Ford said the province unveiled its critical mineral strategy last year to “unleash the economic potential of our northern minerals and to build up our homegrown supply chains, connecting the industry resources and workers in northern Ontario to the future of clean steel and electric vehicles.”

“Unlocking these resources and getting them to market represents an incredible economic opportunity for our province for generations to come,” said the premier. 

The funding, provided through the province's $29-million Ontario Junior Exploration Program (OJEP), has been put in place to help increase and expand mineral exploration, growth and job creation in the province, particularly in northern and Indigenous communities.

“Through these targeted investments, we’re building a made-in-Ontario supply chain ecosystem, connecting the minerals needed to make EV batteries to the automakers and battery manufacturers leading the transition,” Ford said.

Dr. Michael Gunning, president and chief executive officer of VR Resources Ltd., says the funding announced Thursday will assist his junior exploration company after it discovered an “above-average composition of four rare earth elements that are essential for permanent magnets,” which are essential for electric vehicles and wind turbines in Ontario's far north two years ago. 

“It makes a big difference,” Gunning told members of the local media following the announcement. “Research and development in the world of inflation is expensive, and we’re a very small venture capital company - we raise our funds in the market to try and make discoveries, and like all research and development, we don’t know which ideas are going to work. We just have to test our ideas.

“So this funding really does make a material difference for me to have the conviction to go out and do this drilling to try and discover where are the critical metals going to come from.”

SIS Manufacturing Corp. President Tony Porco, speaking with reporters following the announcement, anticipates his company, which employs approximately 400 people in the Sault, will experience a trickle-down effect from the $5.8 million in funding due to its work with northern Ontario's mining sector.  

“We’re always building their new structures — so their beams, their girders, their crane work — as far as Sudbury to Alamos to the new Dubreuilville mine,” said Porco. “It definitely helps us, and it creates more jobs." 

The province is currently accepting a third round of applications for the Ontario Junior Exploration Program. The deadline to apply is March 16, 2023. Details on the application process are available online.

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