Provincial cash is helping create a vibrant supply and service sector in Timmins, according to Minister of Energy, Northern Development and Mines Greg Rickford.
At The Bucket Shop this afternoon, Rickford announced more than $700,000 from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation (NOHFC) for three local businesses.
The Bucket Shop is receiving $593,482 for its new paint and blasting facility and to buy new equipment to take on bigger projects.
There is also $96,443 for 360 Boring Services to buy new equipment to increase production and improve efficiency for its heavy equipment and fabrication services, and $13,344 for Fibre Fusion. The division of Con's Electric Co. will be using to buy new equipment to expand its operations to include fibre-optic cable splicing, connections, and maintenance for miing and telecom services.
"Competition is a good thing, the projects that you’re doing to scale are different, but whether we’re talking about 360 or The Bucket Shop, these are local companies that we’re getting behind,” said Rickford.
Ground was broken for The Bucket Shop's two new buildings — a 10,634-square-foot paint/abrasive blasting building and 10,634-square-foot multipurpose warehouse building — in the summer of 2019.
Market development manager Jamie Pouw said they should be built and in operation by October.
This isn't the first time The Bucket Shop is getting support from the government.
Last fall, they got $500,000 from NOHFC to help commercialize three new mining products. They also received a $2.1 million repayable contribution from FedNor in 2019.
“This is a local business that’s supporting a local demand,” said Rickford.
"Historically a lot of this heavy machinery...and repair fabrication was outsourced and companies like The Bucket Shop have moved in with a skilled workforce and responded to the demand of mining operations that are proximal here. That makes perfect sense if you see the size and scale of the kind of equipment that they refurbish, that they repair now or now start from scratch with on the designs of companies making this product. They can do it right here in Timmins."
As legacy mines prepare to close, Timmins Mayor George Pirie said the city's economy is going to be totally different and more service-based.
“Transforming our economy, going through this metamorphic change that we’re going through right now — and we have to be very aggressive about it — and we need to get it done on time, that’s how important this is to us,” he said.
