East-West tie transmission project.

• Position: Ontario Power Authority

Aproposed upgraded transmission Aline supplying a bigger pipeline of power from northeastern Ontario to the northwest is expected to bring greater reliability of supply to a region with bright prospects for major industrial development.

The East-West Tie Transmission Project was identified in 2010 in the Ontario Power Authority's (OPA) Long Term Energy Plan as one of its top five priority transmission projects.

With NextBridge Infrastructure chosen as the developer, the project involves construction of roughly 400-kilometre long, double-circuit 230-kilovolt (kV) transmission line along the north shore of Lake Superior between Wawa and Thunder Bay The line would parallel an existing 230-kv corridor.

The targeted in-service date was originally scheduled for the first half of 2018, but concerns over routing of the line and a slow-down in mineral exploration may extend that date by two years.

The OPA believes there's merit in allowing for additional time and that it shouldn't impact mining and other infrastructure projects in region.

Alternative routes are being considered to go around protected areas like Pukaskwa National Park, rather than go through them and there are other discussions with area First Nations on how the line should be routed before the project's environmental assessment study is submitted to the Ministry of Environment.

John Mason, the Thunder Bay Community Economic Development Commission's mining services manager, suspects the routing issue through federal and provincial parks could be a factor, in his estimation, that could push the in-service date further back to 2022.

And that's cause for concern if the sluggish mining industry suddenly starts to rebound.

Despite a tough financing market to raise money for exploration and mineral development, a 2013 mining readiness study identified as many as 10 advanced-stage projects that could become mines over the next five years in the northwest. The forecasted power demand ranges between 400 and 700 megawatts.

"Transmission is a huge issue with antiquated, one-way radial lines," said Mason. "The biggest issue now is that two gold projects, Goldcorp's Cochenour project and Rubicon's Phoenix project in Red Lake, are scheduled for production next year. Both require more power"

Rubicon is only permitted for 5.3 megawatts, said Mason, and will need 15 megawatts within a few months as the gold miner seeks to commission a processing mill...