Canada invests $13.8M to support northern Ontario critical minerals projects

The Canadian government has earmarked up to $13.8 million through the Critical Minerals Infrastructure Fund (CMIF) for five developments in northwestern Ontario as part of a nationwide strategy to improve access to its endowment of the minerals.

The funding, pending due diligence will go to four companies, three focused on lithium and one on copper.

“These projects, under the Canadian Critical Minerals Strategy’s flagship program, will develop the necessary infrastructure to access and transport our rich critical mineral resources in Northwestern Ontario to market,” natural resources minister Jonathan Wilkinson said in a release on Monday. (These projects) will also improve transportation safety, reliability and access to essential services, and reinforce our government’s commitment to a net-zero future,” Patty Hajdu, Minister of Indigenous Services and the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario, added. 

The federal funding is part of the CMIF’s $1.5 billion pot intended to support clean energy and electrification projects, announced almost one year ago. The fund exists alongside the $3.8 billion critical minerals strategy unveiled in 2022, to help develop copper, cobalt, nickel and other metals used in technologies like batteries, wind turbines and solar panels to fight climate change. 

Under the latest funding, Green Technology Metals (ASX: GT1) is to receive $5.5 million to upgrade 56 km of existing roads and replace three bridges to support the development of its Seymour lithium project near Armstrong, about 250 km north of Thunder Bay.

Rock Tech Lithium (TSXV: RCK; OTC: RCKTF) is expected to net $1.4 million to upgrade and extend a 10-km access road north of Nipigon that would enable the transportation of lithium from its Georgia Lake project site.

Frontier Lithium (TSXV: FL; US-OTC: LITOF) would receive $6.1 million to advance Indigenous engagement and engineering for a 56- km all-season road and electricity infrastructure for the Pakeagama (PAK) lithium project in northwestern Ontario.

And Generation Mining (TSX: GENM) will get $771,100 to undertake engineering and design work for a 5-km access road, as well as feasibility studies for additional road and rail links to support the movement of copper concentrates to smelters and refiners from its Marathon project, 300 km east of Thunder Bay.

These investments, alongside others in clean energy and nuclear power that were announced earlier this year, are part of the government of Canada’s partnership with Ontario through the Regional Energy and Resource Tables.

Ontario joined the Regional Tables process in 2022 as a way for the two levels of government to work closer together, and with Indigenous partners, to identify shared opportunities to seize the tremendous opportunities of the low-carbon economy.