Strategic Resources seeks major project designation for Quebec project
Montreal-based Strategic Resources has submitted an intake application to Canada’s new Major Projects Office (MPO), seeking federal support for its BlackRock vanadium, titanium and high-purity iron project in Québec.
The MPO, launched earlier this year, is designed to accelerate nationally significant developments by offering a single federal point of contact, helping resolve policy challenges and structuring financing to derisk large projects.
Strategic said its BlackRock project, comprising a vanadium mine, concentrator and multi-metal metallurgical plant, is Canada’s only fully permitted development of its kind and is considered a critical minerals project of national importance.
The project is also the only permitted industrial development at the federally owned Port of Saguenay, where Ottawa is investing heavily to attract large-scale industry. Strategic is the most advanced proponent at the site and holds a long-term lease in the port’s new industrial park.
The company has signed an impact benefit agreement with the Cree Nation of Québec (Oujé Bougoumou) and development agreements with the Innu Nations of Mashteuiatsh, Essipit and Pessamit.
As an initial phase, the company plans to build a high-purity iron pellet plant at Saguenay to process concentrate from the Labrador Trough for supply to steelmakers in Canada, the US and Europe. Such pellets are increasingly required for electric-arc furnace steelmaking as North America and Europe move away from traditional blast furnaces.
Strategic expects to engage with the MPO in the coming weeks and aims to be formally designated as a major project under the office’s new mandate.
