Ontario–Ottawa ‘one project, one review’ deal: permitting lens for mine planners
Reviewed by Tom Sullivan
First reported on MINING.com
30 Second Briefing
Ontario and Canada have signed a “one project, one review” agreement to coordinate federal and provincial environmental and impact assessments, targeting long-delayed mining and infrastructure schemes in the Ring of Fire and other critical mineral districts. The deal dovetails with Ontario’s One Project, One Process (1P1P) framework, which aims to cut mine approval timelines from up to 15 years to a maximum of two years, with Frontier Lithium’s PAK project the first pilot. For geotechnical and mining teams, the move signals materially shorter permitting horizons for cobalt, lithium, nickel and copper projects backed by a C$500 million processing fund.
Technical Brief
- “One project, one review” lets Ottawa either adopt Ontario’s process or run a coordinated joint assessment.
- The agreement explicitly targets projects that would otherwise trigger separate federal and provincial environmental/impact reviews.
- Canada’s new Major Projects Office, formed about four months earlier, will channel nation-building schemes into this regime.
- Frontier Lithium’s PAK project became the first asset admitted to Ontario’s 1P1P permitting framework in October.
Our Take
Ontario’s 1P1P cap of two years for advanced exploration and mine development stands out in our Policy coverage, where several Canadian jurisdictions still face approval horizons closer to the 10–15 year range for new copper and nickel projects.
The C$500 million critical minerals processing fund positions Ontario as one of the more aggressive provincial backers of downstream capacity in our database, which is likely to favour lithium assets such as Frontier Lithium’s PAK project and reduce reliance on Chinese processing for cobalt and nickel.
With the current North America-wide free trade agreement expiring next year, a faster permitting track for copper and critical minerals in Ontario and the Ring of Fire gives Canadian projects a stronger hand in any renegotiation-driven reshuffling of US supply chains away from Russia and China.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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