https://www.thesudburystar.com/
Buried beneath the feet of Northern Ontarians are the materials that will drive the green economy. Nickel, copper, cobalt and lithium are needed in abundance for batteries that will store electric energy.
The world is already shifting from greenhouse gas-emitting fossil energy sources like coal, oil and natural gas in an effort to minimize the very worst effects of climate change. Northern Ontario, with our abundant mineral resources, is strategically positioned to be a global leader in the clean economy.
Leadership requires commitment – and that’s always been a problem for Northern Ontario, a vast but sparsely populated region that is far too often treated as a resource colony by governments and investors located in southern Ontario. Our region’s mineral wealth is far too often seen as resources ripe for exploitation, rather than as the building blocks for our own prosperity.
Earlier this month, Northerners were excited to hear that Noront Resources had selected Sault Ste. Marie as a home for its ferrochrome smelter to process chromite extracted from the Ring of Fire in northwestern Ontario.
It sounds like progress, but the truth is the Ring of Fire, a $60-billion project, remains stalled – and likely will be for some time as Ontario’s new government is walking away from engagement with the Indigenous people who live in the region.
For the rest of this column: https://www.thesudburystar.com/news/local-news/may-ring-of-fire-bungling-jeopardizes-green-prosperity-for-north