TI Canada assessed the approval of mine closure plans within the Province of Ontario (Ontario). Therefore, the report does not consider all the remaining approval processes within the mining cycle, such as obtaining mining tenure and environmental impact assessments. Furthermore, the report does not assess the Ontario Environmental Bill of Rights process for public participation. As it is a pilot project, the report has focused only on the Ontario Mining Act, and the approval of mine closure plans prescribed therein. In the assessment, two main risks were identified and prioritized by the researchers. These risks highlight uncertainty about the likelihood and impact of events that could have a negative effect on the lawful compliance and ethical awarding of mine closure plans. The first is the risk of manipulation of negotiations with Indigenous Peoples, and the second is that certain steps of the award process are not publicly knowable. Both risks point to a lack of transparency in the award process.16
