Sixteen years ago, scientists discovered the first nickel and copper deposits in the Ring of Fire, a 5,000-square-kilometre crescent of volcanic rock located in the James Bay Lowlands. That northern tract, rich with materials necessary to manufacture EV batteries, is of tremendous interest to Canada’s mining giant stakeholders, the federal government and Indigenous communities in the area.
For now, however, it’s unreachable. Several environmental assessments are under way to determine if a $2-billion road running north from the highway to the Ring of Fire is feasible, and the provincial government has pledged $1 billion to build a big chunk of it. But it won’t happen until some legal issues are settled. Ten First Nations groups in the Treaty 9 area have together launched a $95-billion lawsuit against the federal and provincial governments for not consulting them on development plans.
Will we ever be able to access the minerals? Virginia Heffernan, the author of Ring of Fire: High Stakes Mining in a Lowlands Wilderness, writes in Maclean’s that a lot depends on what happens next: “If Canada can find a way to sustainably mine and supply metals to EV manufacturing hubs in North America, the country will be spinning green gold.”
—Sarah Fulford, editor-in-chief
