Ontario plans to cut red tape for minerals developments
Potential legislation in Canada aims to speed up mining projects.
Ontario, Canada, is introducing the Protect Ontario by Unleashing Our Economy Act, 2025.
If passed, this legislation would cut the red tape and duplicative processes that have been said to ‘hold back’ major infrastructure, mining and resource development projects, including in the Ring of Fire, an area almost 5,000km2 in size located more than 500km northeast of Thunder Bay.
Ontario is mineral rich and includes resources such as nickel, titanium, cobalt and lithium.
The current authorisation processes for mining and major infrastructure projects require interested parties to navigate a process of overlapping and duplicative approvals from multiple ministries and levels of government.
The Protect Ontario by Unleashing Our Economy Act, 2025 would reportedly streamline this process to minimise delays, lower costs and set service standards for government review times.
The duty to consult will remain if the Act passes.
Key measures include:
- Create authority to designate special economic zones
- Accelerating mining development in every part of the province
- Speeding up housing, transit, infrastructure and other projects impacting certain species
- Establishing a new Species Conservation Programme
- Saving businesses money by eliminating registration fees
- Protecting critical mineral resources from bad actors
- Building a secure energy grid
If passed, the Canadian province will work to establish clear criteria against which special economic zones will be evaluated, with the goal of designating the first zone by September 2025, while upholding existing duty to consult obligations.
Ontario reports anticipating priority will be given to critical mineral development.
‘The maze of bureaucracy, red tape and duplicative processes holding back our economy means that a single mining project can take 15 years to be approved,’ says Premier Doug Ford. ‘In the face of current Ontario-US trade tensions, it can no longer be business as usual. We are cutting red tape to unlock our critical minerals and unleash our economy to create new jobs and opportunities in the north and across the province.’
