As mining industry leaders gather in Toronto this week, a big topic of discussion is how an increasing government focus on major projects could help accelerate permitting timelines in a highly regulated industry. 

Canada Nickel’s vice-president, Pierre-Philippe Dupont, was asked to share his company’s experience, having been both referred to the federal Major Projects Office and Ontario’s “One Project, One Process” framework. 

He said it’s still early days, and it’s hard to say at this point “what’s working, what’s not working.” 

“We feel the intention to push forward the project, but it’s the ‘how’ that’s not well understood, from both the government and the proponent side.” 

He cites as an example the work the company has done to build relationships with the First Nations located near its massive proposed nickel mine in Timmins. 

“Government folks ask us to send our engagement plan,” he said. “We’ve been engaged for the past four years! It’s all recorded, it’s all public.” 

“Can you actually minimize the burden of permitting on the proponent, as well as on the Nations?” 

Dupont says Canada Nickel’s Crawford project is among the first to go through the Impact Assessment Act process, and that the experience with the federal agency has been very positive. 

But when it comes to the special agencies recently created to streamline the regulatory process, he says they should look at what is not working in the law, instead of asking how they can help make the process faster. 

“I’ve been in mining for about 20 years now, and the scariest thing I’ve heard from regulators so far is: ‘we will streamline the permitting process.’ Every time I’ve heard that, the process gets longer,” he said. 

The moderator of the panel, McMillan LLP’s Sharon Singh, then joked that criticizing assessment is a favourite pastime in the industry. 

Costs of permitting misunderstood by government, says company

She then turned to Talisker Resources’ director of permitting, Kelsey Dodd, who is credited with helping carry a B.C. gold project across the finish line in “record time.” 

Dodd said the province did a really good job of updating the legislation on assessment, providing certainty for proponents on timelines for reviews and responses.

“There’s checks and balances at every step, it was really clear and concise,” she said. 

But when it came to actual permitting, it was a different story, according to her. 

“You hand them your permit application and your 30,000 pages of documents… It’s the same people who have reviewed your environmental assessment, but now they are looking at it with a different lens.” 

“I think the Ministry is so risk-averse right now that they’re scared of making a decision, they just keep throwing more and more.” 

Dodd says this is how the company ended up facing duplicative requirements, ministries that did not communicate, and a change in the team assigned to her project. 

“Government people don’t understand the cost of this,” she said.

Dupont commented that the average cost of permitting in Canada right now ranges from $20 – $40 million. 

Dodd said that, after speaking with employees at the Environment Assessment Office, they were under the impression the process would cost the company between $2 and $5 million. 

“There’s an education piece from the proponent side that needs to follow through into ministry, as to what the cost of this is and having a shared understanding of why and how we are doing this.” 

Singh then asked the panelists if there was any truth to reports that some companies do not want to be nominated to the Major Projects Office, for fear of being perceived as trying to cut corners.

Dupont answered that indeed, not all communities view Ontario’s “One Project, One Process” framework favourably, and the company had to have conversations with its First Nation partners before being nominated by the province.

He said one community in particular said they would not support it, and did not want to be associated with it, but was willing to continue their partnership with Canada Nickel nonetheless.