https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-ontario-wades-into-critical-minerals-sector-but-curbs-enthusiasm-on/

"...Mr. Rickford made it clear on Wednesday that Ontario isn’t likely to make similarly huge bets with its strategic minerals investments.

“We don’t necessarily view this as something that the taxpayers have to throw huge chunks of money at,” he said. “We’re taking pragmatic steps.” 

The minister said the province instead will concentrate on helping critical minerals companies that can potentially produce or refine elements that feed into the automotive sector. To wit, late last year, the government invested $5-million in Toronto-based First Cobalt Corp., which is developing a cobalt refinery in Northern Ontario. Cobalt is a key raw material in batteries for electric cars, and First Cobalt hopes to eventually supply auto makers in the province. 

The steady-as-she-goes approach from Mr. Rickford on critical minerals stands in sharp contrast to a few years ago, when he advocated investing hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars in the sector. In 2019, he asked the federal government to go 50-50 on a $1.6-billion investment to build an access road to connect the Ring of Fire development to the provincial highway grid

. Discovered in 2007, and located in Ontario’s Far North, the Ring of Fire site still sits undeveloped. 

Much of the early promise of the project was built on a back-of-the-envelope estimate by geologist James Franklin, who pegged the value of the minerals at $60-billion. In 2019, Mr. Franklin disavowed the figure in a Globe and Mail interview

The Ring contains mostly economically unproven amounts of chromite – a critical mineral used in the production of stainless steel. While studies of the potential environmental impact of the access road are continuing, there have been no commitments from either Ottawa or the Ontario government to build it." 

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-ontario-wades-into-critical-minerals-sector-but-curbs-enthusiasm-on/