A new provincial committee has been created to help boost mining investment in Manitoba.
According to a mandate letter released by the province June 11, the committee has been formed to make Manitoba the most improved province for job creation, economic growth, business and industrial partnerships, and public financing. The committee will be under the purview of the provincial Ministry of Growth, Enterprise and Trade and will operate closely with the province’s Look North Initiative and the recently released Manitoba mineral development protocol.
The committee, officially called the Manitoba Liaison Committee on Mining and Exploration, features several individuals that may be familiar to those within Flin Flon’s mining circles.
One of the nine members named to the team is Gary Merasty, the executive vice-president and chief development officer of the North West Company. Merasty grew up in Pelican Narrows, is a former grand chief of Prince Albert Grand Council, and former Liberal MP for Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River. Merasty represented Creighton, Denare Beach, Pelican Narrows, Sandy Bay and most of northern Saskatchewan in Parliament for 18 months from April 2006 to August 2007.
Merasty is a member of Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation (PBCN) and was the first First Nations person to be elected as an MP in Saskatchewan.
Following his departure from politics, Merasty has worked with several corporate and charitable entities, including Hudbay, the Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technologies, Cameco and others.
Also included on the team is Neil Richardson, director of exploration for the Hudbay Manitoba business unit. Richardson previously served as the chief operating officer for VMS Ventures, a junior mining company that co-owned the Reed mine project with Hudbay and helped bring the project to fruition.
Other members include chair Shastri Ramnath, the executive chair and co-owner of Orix Geoscience Inc. and president, chief executive officer and director of Exiro Minerals Corp.; Vale manager of corporation and Indigenous affairs for Manitoba and Ontario Ryan Land; Alamos Gold vice-president of sustainability and external affairs Colin Webster; Brandon University’s Hamid Mumin; Global Li-Ion Graphite Corp. president John Roozendaal; Orix Geoscience Inc. senior project geoscientist Julia Singh; and Andrew MacSkimming, a Winnipeg-based environmental, energy and resources lawyer.
