Courtesy: Twitter @GeorgePirieMPP

The Ford Government is pushing forward with its Critical Minerals Strategy with a new fund dedicated to kickstarting innovation in Ontario in both the mining and the development of electric vehicles.

Following an announcement in Timmins,  Ontario Mines Minister George Pirie says the supply of rare earth minerals is primarily with Russia, China and the Congo meaning in order to catch up Ontario needs to be aggressive, hence this new fund.

“There is a lot of work that’s gotta to get done because we’ve never really explored for them. We have, we are now, and we’re aggressively going after that so this is one of the incentives we’ve got, so the best people in every sector.”

Pirie says applications of the five million dollar fund can come from academia, companies, First Nations, and not-for-profit organizations in an effort to encourage the best and brightest. He adds he is optimistic over the potential that this could lead to the manufacturing of green technology here in Northwestern Ontario, citing potential Lithium based projects, here in the Thunder Bay area.

A total of two million dollars is slated for the fund for 2022-2023 and the remaining three million will come in 2023-2024, however Pirie is confident the Critical Minerals Innovation Fund will be extended beyond the initial two years.