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Calling 2026 “a year of moving with speed,” Ontario’s minister of energy and mines has announced the province is accelerating the construction of a new 230-kilometre transmission line into the Ring of Fire.
Stephen Lecce made the announcement Wednesday, the latest relating to the mineral-rich Ring of Fire, a nearly 5,000-square-kilometre, crescent-shaped area in the James Bay lowlands.
The Greenstone Transmission Line will run from Nipigon Bay to near Aroland First Nation in what the province is calling the “gateway to the Ring of Fire.”
The line is expected to be completed in 2032.
“We are emerging as a reliable and a stable democratic partner that the world can count on for those ethical resources,” Lecce said.
“From new roads, the transmission in the Ring of Fire, to moving forward with North America’s largest nuclear expansion, we are open for business and we mean business.”
The Ontario government says Ring of Fire development could generate $22 billion over 30 years and 70,000 jobs.
Chromite, nickel, copper, cobalt, gold, zinc, palladium, platinum and titanium are among key minerals and metals in the region that are deemed critical for global demand, including for electric vehicle (EV) batteries and green energy technologies.
While mining has yet to be approved there, efforts to connect the remote area to the provincial highway network have escalated in recent months. The province signed $40-million deals with both Marten Falls and Webequie First Nations to support road construction through their territories to reach the Ring of Fire, and a $62-million deal with the Municipality of Greenstone.
Last month, Premier Doug Ford signed a deal with Prime Minister Mark Carney agreeing to a streamlined and flexible assessment process on major projects, including the Ring of Fire.
These efforts haven’t come without pushback, though.
Several First Nations in the region say the province’s push for development hasn’t allowed them the time and resources to be properly consulted about how these projects may affect them.
Environmental organizations have also sounded the alarm over the implications of mining in remote, ecologically sensitive areas.
Wednesday’s announcement officially declared the Greenstone Transmission Line as a priority project while designating Hydro One for its development and construction. The province says it will also help reduce First Nations’ reliance on diesel.
There’s still a lot of work to do. This is just one project and just a start – there’s more to come. We’re willing to do our share of the work.– Sheri Taylor, chief of Ginoogaming First Nation
The project is also part of Ontario’s shared prosperity agreement with Aroland First Nation that “includes $70 million to advance work on the new line which will be essential for advancing mining operations in the Ring of Fire,” says the province’s news release.
“Our community and the communities we are working with have been plagued by unreliable and inadequate energy resources for our region, limiting growth and opportunities,” said Aroland First Nation Chief Joseph Gagnon in the release.
“This will create more reliable energy for our membership and eventually to the communities to the north.”
Indigenous communities will also have access to Hydro One’s First Nations Equity Partnership Model, which will include First Nation leadership in decision-making and 50 per cent ownership of the line.
“Economic development opportunities are integral to our community’s development and equity investments are a path forward to resolving our challenges today,” Ginoogaming First Nation Chief Sheri Taylor said in Wednesday’s news release.
“There’s still a lot of work to do. This is just one project and just a start — there’s more to come. We’re willing to do our share of the work.”
‘Critical step’ in province’s plans for the north
Electricity demand in northern Ontario is projected to increase by 81 per cent by 2050, according to the province.
The Greenstone Transmission Line will provide the capacity needed to unlock 350 to 700 megawatts of additional hydroelectricity and other power generation. It also aims to bolster Ontario’s and Canada’s supply chain, “with 93 per cent of the project’s costs to date staying in the country,” the province’s news release says.
Warren Mabee, a professor at Queen’s University and director of the Queen’s Institute for Energy and Environmental Policy, describes the project as “the last thing that needs to be done before everything sort of takes off in the north.”
The premier has tied the Ring of Fire “very closely to Ontario’s prosperity,” Mabee said, and development there requires more energy to support miners and other workers.
“Creating this new higher-voltage line that is going to support a switching station and ultimately can support development is a critical step.”
The province hasn’t specified what it hopes to gain by designating the line project as a priority.
“Whether or not declaring it a priority means that it gets built much faster remains to be seen,” said Mabee. “We know that the government is talking about special economic zones and that would speed things up as well, but we haven’t really seen how that will play out.”
As for whether the transmission line will, in fact, create 7,000 permanent jobs in the Greenstone area, “I would highly doubt that,” he said.
“It would certainly support economic development and it would certainly support the First Nations in those regions.”
