North will benefit from Kingston cathode plant, Fedeli says
News about a $1.5 billion electric battery component facility to be built in Kingston is also good news for northern Ontario, says the province's Minister of Economic Development and Trade.
Vic Fedeli said the north will reap benefits from the Kingston plant, a partnership between the provincial and federal government and Belgium-based Umicore N.V.
The facility will be home to a plant producing cathodes and precursor materials, the province said, noting that cathodes make up about half of the value of an electric vehicle battery.
They contain minerals such as nickel, cobalt, manganese and lithium – minerals that are mined in the north.
"Every bit of the cathode and precursor plant that they have there needs minerals and that's what we have here in the north," Fedeli told CTV's Brendan Connor.
"We want a full supply chain. From critical minerals, this missing piece -- the precursor and the cathode -- then the battery plant, which we won, then the five manufacturers, which are here and shored up. All of the parts, all of the tools dyes and molds, all of the connected and autonomous vehicle tech components, that piece of cathode and precursor was missing and they need our minerals."
Fedeli said demand for nickel could eventually change the view of the Ring of Fire as a source of nickel, rather than chromite.
"I think they're literally going to push the chromite aside and go deeper for the nickel," he said.
"There's so much demand. Nickel is being found north of Timmins, Canada Nickel south of Timmins as well. Lots of development. We need lithium, which is all in northwestern Ontario, so we're going to push really hard for lithium mine to go into production and to have processing of the lithium there."
Longer term, Fedeli said such plants could be built in the north, closer to where the metals are located.
"The batteries themselves are going to be built in Windsor because they're literally adjacent to the assembly plant," he said.
"I think there's lots of room for the precursor to be processed here in northern Ontario and shipped worldwide, for that matter. I think we have enough to do it. And that's our ultimate goal. "
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.6903244.1716897063!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpg)
BREAKING Scotiabank suffers direct deposit outage on pay day
Scotiabank has acknowledged technical difficulties affecting direct deposits as clients report missed payments Friday morning. On Friday morning, the bank's client services phone line was playing an automated message assuring customers that work was underway to rectify the outage.
Canada Soccer head investigating 'systemic ethical shortcoming' amid spying scandal
Canada Soccer chief executive officer Kevin Blue said he was investigating a potential 'systemic ethical shortcoming' within the program but has not considered pulling the women's soccer team from the Paris Olympics due to a drone spying scandal.
Suspected train sabotage, bad weather dampen spirits ahead of Paris opening ceremony
The Paris Olympics are getting off to a rough start, with suspected acts of sabotage targeting France's flagship high-speed rail network.
Elon Musk's estranged daughter calls out his 'entirely fake' claims about her childhood
Vivian Jenna Wilson, Elon Musk's estranged daughter, publicly refuted several recent anti-trans statements her Tesla CEO and X owner father has made about her.
At least 4 buildings burned at Jasper Park Lodge, others damaged: Fairmont memo
The Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge said Thursday afternoon most of its structures are "standing and intact," including its iconic main lodge.
'She led it the whole way': 18-year-old B.C. woman leads hikers to safety in Jasper National Park
As fire threatened people in Jasper National Park, Colleen Knull sprung into action.
'Catastrophic' situation 'cannot continue': Open letter from Trudeau, other PMs calling for Gaza ceasefire
Prime ministers of Canada, New Zealand and Australia released a letter renewing calls for an “urgent ceasefire” in Gaza on Friday morning.
Arson attacks cause chaos before start of Olympics in Paris, thwarting athletes' travel
Arsonists attacked the French high-speed rail network early Friday, paralyzing travel to Paris from across the rest of France and Europe for some 800,000 people, including Olympic athletes heading to the grand opening ceremony of the Games in the evening.
Saskatchewan First Nation lifts 17-year long water advisory
After 17 years, residents of Star Blanket Cree Nation can breathe a sigh of relief when turning on their taps.