'It cannot take us eight years to open up a frigging mine'

Progress being made to quicken mine start-ups, minister says 

Ontario is looking to expedite the process of getting mining operations open for commercial production.

That was a key message from Greg Rickford, the province’s minister of Energy, Mines, Northern Development and Indigenous Affairs, who was in Timmins recently to deliver a State of Mining address.

Rickford spoke of the industry’s need to be “better and faster” at opening mines for the market in a “timely manner.”

In his address, Rickford expressed his frustration with the previous Liberal government, which he said took over five years to get a mine up and running.

“Anybody who’s in this sector will tell you that it takes way too long. It can’t be that these operations take seven to eight years. It can’t be that since coming into government, we’ve moved three mining operations to a go-live position, and done more for them in the regulatory space than the previous government did in five to seven years,” he said. 

“We have to make sure that the system from start to finish responds to how the market treats commodities, particularly mines and their minerals, and that’s what we’re working on.”

In 2019, three new mining operations declared commercial production. They include the Borden Mine, which is located near Chapleau and is the first underground mine in the country to use battery-electric vehicles, the Cochenour gold project in Red Lake, and the Sugar Zone Property near Hemlo Mine.

“It was this government that helped push them across the starting line,” Rickford said in his address. “In fact, Newmont Goldcorp will tell you, the folks at the Borden site will tell you, that we did more in the year leading up to them going live – from a regulatory standpoint – than the previous government had done in six (years). It cannot take us eight years to open up a frigging mine. Do I hear an amen to that? We need to be faster and better at this.”

The minister also mentioned his Conservative government has an “ambitious” agenda for the province’s mining sector, which he said remains a leading jurisdiction on the international mining stage, but there are still a number of jurisdictions that outperform the province.

“There’s much work to be done … We’re working closely with the mining sector to explore options, to improve their access to capital and ensure new projects can get off the ground,” Rickford said.

“We want to build a mining sector in Northern Ontario that focuses on policy innovations, on investments in technology innovations so that we have, proudly, to walk out onto the world stage and say we are in fact the next generation in mining and exploration.”

To do that, the minister said the government is “actively listening” and engaged with the mining sector to understand its challenges and opportunities.

Rickford and Premier Doug Ford also established a mining working group to “remove regulatory burdens that don’t compromise the safety or environmental sustainability but are red tape for the sake of it.”

The group, which is comprised of people who reflect the entire mining sector, was created to address substantive issues, regulatory matters and policy options on an ongoing basis.

“We are listening to the industry voices, and we’ve been able to act quickly to begin our process of cutting red tape,” said Rickford.

“The mining working group has a full complexion and then every six months, our government takes a piece of legislation that has regulations or red tape – that are in government or a consequence of government – and are removed through legislation. So it’s a two-track, two-pronged process.”

In mining specifically, the province said it eliminated five key pieces of regulatory matters identified by the government and mining operations which were “red tape” and created time delays.

Last fall, the province introduced the Better for People, Smarter for Business Act which received royal assent in December 2019. Rickford said the bill cut red tape for businesses and consumers across the province, including the mining industry.

The province also intends to “put legislation into legislature” twice a year to get rid of red tape to serve businesses better.

Rickford said he is in talks with Ford to enact a “red tape bill” which would focus on Northern Ontario’s mining and forestry sectors.

As for the Ring of Fire, Rickford said there would be “no more regional brainwork” in the “not too distant future.” He added the province would be working with the communities in the region differently.

“We spent more than $20 million and sadly the Indigenous communities have not benefited from this and the leaders of those communities will tell you.”

The minister explained the government has done Indigenous communities and mining companies a “disservice” by being caught up in bureaucratic systems that have not benefited those near the Ring of Fire.

When it comes to the region, Rickford said he would argue the larger economic prospect is tied to the infrastructure that supports it, meaning the government would be taking “an entirely different approach” and “building a corridor to prosperity so the communities in that region … will have roads not just to the North to any developments that occur but also to the south.

“The government of Ontario does not build mines. It’s the companies that build mines. Our job is to support infrastructure, and we are very close to developing full partnerships with the Indigenous communities.”

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