@204queenb0574.bsky.social:
Manitobans are pissed at Carney. And rightfully so.
@jetsshado.bsky.social:
PM Mark Carney’s office issued a statement welcoming a partnership between Sio Silica and Germany’s RCT Solutions to build a solar panel manufacturing plant using Manitoba-mined sand. Then they say an enviromental licence has nothing to do with them.
@davidanewman.bsky.social:
Definitely not a fan of Mark Carney, the Red Tory. Sio Silica is a highly unethical company that could care less about environmental protection and places more emphasis on pure profit. Forget that project. Especially David McLaughlin.
@redshan.bsky.social:
Making sure water is protected has to be a priority on all projects. Humans can survive without many things but not without water.
@theecologyprof.bsky.social:
Here’s the problem. This is unproven technology being proposed at gigantic scale: drilling many thousand of holes across se Manitoba. If it damages water quality in aquifers, there’s no going back. It’s why the #PrecautionaryPrinciple should be rigorously enforced.
@breannewieler.bsky.social:
The Brokenhead First Nations. Untested (experimental) mining methods are a huge risk to a clean water reservoir. They wanted environmental impact assessments and Sio Silica ignored them.
Quite frankly, I don’t care if PM Carney OR Wab Kinew are for it. The local First Nations groups living in the area have made it VERY clear that they do not want it. Why? Because Sio Silica wants to use untested methods to mine the silica, and it could permanently damage the clean water reservoirs.
… The president of Sio Silica and East St Paul mayor are one and the same. Ewww.
Sio Silica was denied an environmental license in 2024.
They have changed their name twice already (CanWhite Sand, and SiMBA). How many legit companies do that?
… Sio Silica was denied an environmental license in 2024.
They have changed their name twice already (CanWhite Sand, and SiMBA). How many legit companies do that?
The more I think about it, the more I realize how much First Nations, Métis and Inuit NEED to be part of government of this country.
Kinew has a lot going on with Carney, so him taking a stand against Sio Silica is an even bigger deal than most realize.
And it IS Kinew speaking for Manitobans 💜
@paxdriver.bsky.social:
I … had more faith in Carney (wrongfully in this case)
I expected my banking buddy Mark to be keen to shit like this, but evidently not. I’m grateful for Wab and being called out.
Shell companies absorb liability. It’s so shady it hurts. 
More on this shady shit at bottom this post in the cross refs
@204queenb0574.bsky.social:
Sio has been after our silica deposits for years. Wab has already said no once. As have various First Nations who they’ve approached. Their second application is being reviewed. Carney made an announcement at the G7 as if it’s been approved. It hasn’t and likely won’t with the inquiry pending.
And based how Carney handled the Sio Silica announcement when he was at the G7, I firmly believe he’s going to override provincial decisions he disagrees with. He’s proving to be worse than Harper.
Clearly Carney doesn’t actually work with premiers. It was worth at least a phone call to Kinew to discuss the status of the Sio application. Kinew was blindsided by the announcement but still handled it with grace. Carney is doing whatever he wants, regardless of what premiers say.
I believe he intends to override the provincial decision. He and Wab are not seeing eye to eye and that’s become very clear by his lack of actual real investment in Manitoba. He’s only interested in things that are harmful for the land, the water, the people, etc.
Wab likes to play nice. Until it’s time not to. Carney’s made it clear that he’s not listening to Wab with him backing the Sio silica project despite the first application being rejected and the second one still pending. There was also a huge scandal attached to it and Wab called an inquiry.
@judyspool.bsky.social:
I agree that he sees the Premier as someone who stands up for the enviroment & people and he will be punished. Also, since this project was initially proposed by the previous Conservative provincial govt, makes it a natural for the PM!
@204queenb0574.bsky.social:
Carney isn’t even honouring that MOU. As evidenced by his announcement about Sio Silica.
@bwgilchrist.bsky.social:
For those following the story about East St Paul not releasing the names of candidates before the nomination deadline, this has some pretty nefarious implications:
The Mayor of ESP is also the president of Sio Silica
This same individual breached conflict of interest regulations as a councillor by voting on matters concerning Sio Silica
The same Sio Silica where the former Premier and 2 cabinet ministers were found guilty of conflict of interest and find because of their actions with regards to Sio Silica
At this point, there has to be a presumption that the refusal to release the names of candidates is a scheme to stack the council with members willing to advance Sio Silica’s agenda. To suggest otherwise would require clear proof to the contrary.
At this point, if I’m the province I’d be looking at an OiC barring Sio Silica from any business dealings with the province, and taking every legal step to shut down their operations in the province.
Sio Silica Featured in Canada’s $5 Billion Critical Minerals Alliance at the G7 Summit in Évian, France, Advancing Manitoba’s Solar Manufacturing Future
26 June 2026 by Jamie Hyland, MiningIR
Évian, France – Canada’s ambition to become a global leader in critical minerals received a significant boost this week as Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a series of international partnerships during the G7 Leaders’ Summit in Évian, France. Among the most significant developments was the inclusion of Manitoba-based Sio Silica Corporation in Canada’s newly launched Critical Minerals Resilience and Production Alliance, a strategic initiative designed to strengthen supply chains for the materials essential to advanced manufacturing, clean energy, and national security.
First launched under Canada’s G7 Presidency in 2025, the Alliance brings together trusted international partners to diversify critical mineral supply chains, reduce market concentration, and create a reliable buyers’ network capable of attracting investment and accelerating project development. According to the Government of Canada, the 13 partnerships and initiatives announced through the Alliance are expected to unlock more than $5 billion in capital investment across Canada’s critical minerals value chain.
Sio Silica Corporation has emerged as a key participant in Canada’s Critical Minerals Resilience and Production Alliance through a partnership with Germany-based RCT Solutions GmbH to advance its high-purity silica project in southeastern Manitoba. The initiative will focus on the extraction of 99.9%+ pure silica sand and the potential development of a fully integrated solar manufacturing hub in Canada, positioning Manitoba as a strategic supplier of critical materials for the global clean energy transition.
The company is also partnering with RCT Solutions and the Southern Chiefs’ Organization (Manitoba) to advance plans for a fully integrated solar manufacturing hub in Manitoba. The proposed development would establish a domestic supply chain extending from high-purity silica extraction through to solar manufacturing, creating significant economic opportunities, attracting investment, generating skilled employment, and strengthening Indigenous participation in Canada’s clean energy economy.
The announcement highlights the growing strategic importance of high-purity silica within Canada’s critical minerals framework and reinforces the country’s efforts to develop secure domestic supply chains for advanced manufacturing, renewable energy, semiconductors, batteries, artificial intelligence, and defence technologies.
“These partnerships demonstrate the global significance of Manitoba’s high-purity silica resource and the role it can play in strengthening Canada’s critical minerals strategy,” said Carla Devlin, President of Sio Silica. “We are grateful for the support and engagement of the Government of Canada in helping showcase Canadian opportunities on the world stage. High-purity silica is a foundational material for technologies that support clean energy, semiconductor manufacturing, advanced electronics, artificial intelligence, and national defense applications. By bringing together international industry leaders, Indigenous partners, and government, we are building the foundation for a made-in-Canada advanced manufacturing ecosystem that can attract billions in investment, create long-term employment opportunities, strengthen economic security, and position Canada as a strategic supplier to allied nations.”The partnership with RCT Solutions forms part of a broader strategy by Sio Silica to establish secure North American and European supply chains for high-purity silica, a critical material increasingly required for solar energy systems, semiconductors, batteries, electronics, advanced manufacturing, and defence-related technologies. Through recently announced Memorandums of Understanding, Sio Silica is also working with U.S.-based NanoXSolar to explore future offtake opportunities and support downstream manufacturing initiatives.
The proposed solar manufacturing hub could represent a transformative economic opportunity for Manitoba and Canada. In addition to attracting significant capital investment, the project has the potential to create thousands of skilled jobs, strengthen Indigenous economic participation, and establish Canada as a leader in the rapidly growing clean energy value chain. The initiative aligns with broader government efforts to increase domestic processing and value-added manufacturing while reducing dependence on foreign-controlled supply chains.
Prime Minister Mark Carney emphasized the importance of these international partnerships during the G7 Summit. “In an uncertain world, Canada is a pivotal, powerful, and purposeful force for good. At the G7 Leaders’ Summit in Évian, we secured new partnerships to build energy projects in Canada, new agreements to make it easier for our businesses to sell abroad, and new deals to equip our Canadian Armed Forces with the hardware they need. Canada is showing up – not only with the strength of our values, but with the value of our strength.”Canada’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Tim Hodgson, also highlighted the significance of projects such as Sio Silica’s solar manufacturing hub, noting that Canada’s collaboration with trusted allies is helping accelerate investment, bring projects online faster, and strengthen critical supply chains both domestically and internationally.
For investors and industry observers, Sio Silica’s inclusion in one of the flagship initiatives announced during Canada’s G7 Presidency represents a meaningful endorsement of the project’s strategic value. As demand continues to rise for materials essential to renewable energy, semiconductors, artificial intelligence infrastructure, and advanced manufacturing, Manitoba’s high-purity silica resource is increasingly being recognized as a critical component of Canada’s long-term economic and industrial strategy.
With international partners, Indigenous communities, industry leaders, and governments working together, Sio Silica is positioning itself at the forefront of Canada’s next generation of critical minerals and advanced manufacturing development.
@204queenb0574.bsky.social:
I truly believe Carney intends to override the decision of the province and approve the Sio operation for the national interest. Just wait and see.
Of course the scandal involved doesn’t seem to be an issue for Carney. It is for Wab and he will be launching an inquiry into their practices. The approval is a pie in the sky dream. You can’t play games with the drinking water of Manitobans.
PMO stumbles with Sio Silica communique by Winnipeg Free Press,
Opinion
Let’s file this under the heading “not helpful.”
While attending the G7 summit last week in Évian, France, Prime Minister Mark Carney touted “new investment partnerships” between Canada and Germany, including a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed by Canadian-based Sio Silica and German solar technology firm RCT Solutions for the extraction of high-purity silica sand used in solar-panel manufacturing.Not this lying shit again! Sio Silica’s “sand” is frac sand, it’s reportedly not pure enough for solar panel making.
For the international community (and likely most of Canada outside Manitoba), the readout on the MOU probably seemed like a good-news story regarding a bilateral agreement to “support a high-purity silica project, to extract 99.9 per cent-plus pure silica sandtheir fucking sand is reportedly not pure enough for solar panels FFS!, highly valued for manufacturing solar panels and semiconductors, advanced manufacturing, and defence-related technologies.”Carney is anti environment, anti water (anyone who ramps up frac’d gas LNG ramps up frac’ing which permanently removes water from the hydrogeological cycle). Climate change is drying continents and causing horrific heat extremes and droughts. Last thing humans ought to be doing is permanently destroying and or removing vital drinking water. Sio Silica’s project is bad for water, and even worse for people and other species.
A second memorandum described by Carney involves the two companies and the Southern Chiefs’ Organization in a partnership to build a fully integrated solar manufacturing hub in Manitoba.with what? Sio Silica’s raped out sand is inhumane frac sand.
Such an announcement would be very much in character for a leader who has invested significant political capital into raising Canada’s global profile by promoting economic co-operation among so-called “middle powers” in the face of disruptions of traditional trade relationships during the tumultuous second term of U.S. President Donald Trump.Carney is a liar and a fraud, he’s a Harper Con, and serves Trump, American oil frac and gas and AI, Brookfield and the rich. He does not serve Canada or Canadians. He’s made that clear. Sio Silica will keep American frac’ers permanently destroying drinking water where ever they frac.
But here in Manitoba, Carney’s seemingly out-of-nowhere support of the Sio Silica initiative no doubt felt like an unwelcome intrusion into an issue that has involved years of controversy and political wrangling and, despite the persistent ongoing efforts of the company in question, remains anything but a done deal.
The reference to the sand-extraction MOU was included in a press release from the Prime Minister’s office describing 13 new partnerships and initiatives involving no less than eight countries under the Critical Minerals Resilience and Production Alliance, which was launched last year during Canada’s G7 presidency.
“In an uncertain world, Canada is a pivotal, powerful, and purposeful force for good,” Carney says in the release. “At the G7 Leaders’ Summit in Évian, we secured new partnerships to build energy projects in Canada.”Fucking inhumane monstrous traitor. His energy projects will kill many via escalating global warming. And he has four daughters. Unbelievably cruel father to pimp American companies and those serving them like Sio Silica, which are fast destroying earth’s livability. No water to drink in extreme heat? You and your loved ones die.
But “secured” is a decidedly inappropriate characterization of Sio Silica’s Manitoba initiative. Despite years of lobbying and applications, the company has yet to satisfy environmental concerns about the project(s) and has, to date, been unsuccessful in obtaining the necessary licences and approvals for the initiative to proceed.
The most likely scenario is that Carney and his staff were eager to roll out a roster of trade-deal “wins” during the G7 event and included the Sio Silica/RCT Solutions MOU, unaware of the lingering controversy that surrounds the company in Manitoba.
What would be more troubling is if Carney was aware of the ongoing environmental/licensing standoff and chose to include the memorandum anyway.Carney’s unfortunately a smart man who knows well how to propagandize, lie and manipulate his cult. He doesn’t give a shit about drinking water or safe air and homes for ordinary Canadians. He only cares about environmental destruction and mass murder of other species, notably listed, and more money for the rich polluters, notably in oil, gas, frac and frac sand.
Not surprisingly, Sio Silica president Carla Devlin promptly seized on Carney’s communique as a means of advancing the in-limbo initiative’s chances. “We are grateful for the support and engagement of the Government of Canada in helping showcase Canadian opportunities on the world stage,” she said.
As is his tendency when he perceives things going amiss politically, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew stepped directly into the discussion, saying he works for the people of eastern Manitoba, not the G7 elite, and his focus will remain on safeguarding the drinking water and health of people who live here.Canada and Canadians need Wab Kinew as PM; Carney needs to go serve at Mar-a-Lago, permanently licking Trump’s corrupt pedo rapist orange ass.
Given the generally collegial nature of their interactions so far, there’s little reason to believe this episode will adversely affect broader Carney/Kinew relations. But the PM’s office would be well advised to extract a useful lesson from its unstudied attempt to enhance its global standing by touting a project whose local fate has yet to be decided.
It’s an approach that benefits no one.
@leahgazan.bsky.social Jun2 22, 2026:
Yesterday I wrote to Prime Minister Carney, expressing my concern about his government issuing public statements endorsing a resource extraction project in Manitoba in violation of the rights of affected First Nations and the position of the provincial government.
Research has shown, the current plan for the Sio Silica project risks contaminating clean drinking water sources, which has prompted the Province of Manitoba to deny an environmental license for the project, and which led the Brokenhead Ojibway First Nation to vote against it last year.
Ignoring these risks and violating his duty to respect these prior decisions, Carney went ahead and welcomed foreign investment in the project at the G7 Leaders Summit last week.
This is yet another deeply disturbing example of Carney’s Liberal government taking huge environmental risks and jeopardizing clean water rights, just like we saw in their Bill C-37 tabled last week
Water is life, and life is not negotiable. The Liberals in disguise, they are in reality Harper Cons must stop caving to corporate interests, respect their constitutional obligations and uphold the basic human right to clean water.
From the letter:
These premature, hastily drawn up announcements simply amount to encroachments on the constitutional rights of a First Nation and of the Province of Manitoba.
Under both the Constitution Act of 1982 and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), the Government of Canada must obtain the free, prior and informed consent of Indigenous peoples when it comes to decisions affecting their lands, territories and resources.
Had your government met it’s legal obligation to consult and accommodate Indigenous peoples before seeking to advance this project, it would be aware that Sio Silica’s mining proposal is highly contentious among First Nations and people across Manitoba. … Evidence clearly shows that this project risks jeopardizing safe drinking water in Manitoba.
“Water is life, and life is not negotiable. It is simply unconscionable that your government is jeopardizing this basic human right by advancing resource extraction projects that risk contaminating water sources – particularly of First Nations – while violating your duty to consult and obtain their consent.
In a country as rich as Canada, there is no reason that anyone should have their right to clean water denied, and yet there are still 38 active long-term drinking water advisories throughout our country today. And over 22 years later, I remain without safe water after Encana/Ovintiv illegally frac’d my community’s drinking water aquifers, dangerously contaminating them with cover-up, lies and assistance from all authorities, including fucking Harper’s Anti-terrorist police squad who came trying to terrify me silent after I served my lawsuit on AER, Encana and the Alberta gov’t.
Your government must immediately reverse course and commit to upholding everyone’s basic human right to clean drinking water over the profit-driven interests of big corporations.”
Environment must remain priority, Kinew says of Sio Silica mining MOU by Tavi Dhillon Global News, june 18, 2026
A new proposition and associated memorandum of understanding for a silica mine in southeastern Manitoba is resurfacing past environmental and ethical concerns in the province, Premier Wab Kinew says.
Alberta-based Sio Silicia and Arctic Gateway Group, which operates the Port of Churchill, entered a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with two international companies, according to a news release from Arctic Gateway Group. The Canadian companies will work with German solar panel manufacturers, RCT Solutions GmbH (RCT Solutions), and the U.S.-based company, NanoXSolar.
Together they aim to extract silica that is as pure as possible, at over 99.9 per cent, to build a “fully integrated solar manufacturing hub in Manitoba,” according to a news release issued by the Prime Minister’s Office.
Before that work can begin, it must be approved by the provincial government.
“I work for the people of eastern Manitoba not for the Davos crowd,” Kinew told 680 CJOB on Thursday morning, referencing the annual gathering of politicians and executives at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
“And so, we’re going to continue to put the drinking water and the priorities of people who live in this province first.”
Former Progressive Conservative premier Heather Stefanson, alongside some cabinet ministers, violated the province’s conflict-of-interest law by pushing for the silica mine’s approval, Manitoba’s ethics commissioner found in 2025.
Kinew said the province will launch a public inquiry into the company’s previous actions while speaking on 680 CJOB.
He says he is not opposed to mining, but environmental and ethical considerations must come first.
“We want economic development activity, but I don’t think we want it at all costs, and I don’t think we need to say yes to everything,” the premier said.
1:02Manitoba ethics commissioner faults former premier for pushing mining project
Sio Silica’s mining operation would be near the Manitoban RM of Springfield.
Springfield Mayor Patrick Therrien told Global News he will defer to the province’s direction but said he and his council have shared their thoughts on the record in a letter to the province during the project’s first attempt at approval, which was denied over environmental concerns. The letter expressed concerns about the water quality and safety.
Sio Silica president Carla Devlin says the company is working to ensure nearby communities are involved, and the company will host meetings that residents can attend.
“We are putting in place as many checks and balances as we can to ensure that the aquifer is protected and that we’re transparent throughout the project,” Devlin told Global News.
The plant is expected to create 8,000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!direct jobs and 17,000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!indirect jobs in the community, she added.JFC! Not at all believable.
“It’s a $3.2 billion capital investment into Manitoba’s economy and it needs our resource to create those panels,” Devlin told 680 CJOB Wednesday night.
It would require around 1,000 acres of land, and Devlin said the eventual site would be near highways and communities.and families and farms and small businesses, all need water and safe air
“We come out of the ground at one of the highest purities,but not pure enough to use to make solar panels or the other fancy promises Sio Silica spews. It’s fucking frac sand.at 99.86 (per cent) and then with a simple magnetic water wash, we become 99.9 (per cent pure). Then through processing, we enter advanced manufacturing. And that’s what brings to our province the value added,” she said.
Once purified, the company will ship the resource to RCT Solutions in Germany, with four ships’ worth expected to go through the Port of Churchill annually.so who is lying now? All the big jobs and money and value for Manitobans was promised to be the solar panel plant in Manitoba. So that was a con too? Sio Silica is full of shit, as is Herr Carney.
Silica sand, or silica dioxide, is a chemical compound that naturally forms out of oxygen and silicon. It can be used to produce solar glass panels, computer chips and 3D printed materialsput only if it’s pure enough, which Sio Silica’s is not.
The announcement of an agreement was made at the G7 summit in Évian-les-Bains, France. The office of Prime Minister Mark Carney announced 13 new Canadian partnerships and initiatives in total, one of which will create a pure silica sand and solar manufacturing centre in southeastern Manitoba, his office said Wednesday.
Our Line in the Sand, a group of environmentally conscious concerned citizens, said the agreement made by Carney and the German chancellor is “presumptuous.”
“We thought it was a serious error in judgment,” Tangi Bell, chair of Our Line in the Sand, said. “We really don’t think they are in touch with the people or the planet when it comes to development,” she said.
“(Sio Silica’s) modelling shows that heavy metal contamination occurs in the aquifer. This is an aquifer that supports the southeast region with water, businesses with water, the ecosystem with water. It is demented to even consider doing that to the southeast bedrock aquifer system.”
Bell said Ottawa should seek evidence-based, environmentally friendly projects, not backdoor agreements.
Kinew casts doubt on approving Sio Silica’s 2nd effort to obtain licence to mine sand, Licence approval process and coming public inquiry can’t be separated, Manitoba premier says by Bartley Kives · CBC News · Jun 18, 2026
Premier Wab Kinew cast doubt Thursday on the prospect of Manitoba approving a second effort by mining company Sio Silica to obtain an environmental licence to drill for sand in the rural municipality of Springfield.
In an interview with radio station CJOB, Kinew said he doesn’t know how the province can separate a forthcoming public inquiry into the actions of Sio Silica from the province’s pending decision to approve the mining company’s licence.
“I don’t know how you would,” Kinew said Thursday in the interview.
Sio Silica filed an application in 2025 to extract 1.9 million tonnes of sand over the next five years by drilling up to 492 wells in a 28-square-kilometre area near the community of Vivian, in Springfield.
Kinew’s NDP government denied an earlier Sio Silica application in 2024.
It called for the miner extract 33 million tonnes of sand over 24 years by drilling up to 7,200 wells across a 82-square-kilometre area.
The premier told CJOB the request for the new licence is complicated by the inquiry he has called into efforts to approve Sio Silica’s initial licence during the two-week period between the Oct. 3, 2023, election-night loss of the Manitoba Progressive Conservatives and the swearing-in of his NDP government.
- Former Manitoba premier violated Conflict of Interest Act by pushing silica sand project: ethics commissioner
- Manitoba premier vows public inquiry into former PC government efforts to approve sand-mining licence
“Objectively speaking, this company was denied an environmental licence. They do not have an environmental licence, that is a fact, and then there is an inquiry about to be launched,” Kinew said during the interview, citing the “environmental impacts” of silica mining on drinking water.
The premier’s office declined requests by CBC News to speak to Kinew about his comments.
Amy Tuckett-McGimpsey, a spokesperson for the premier, said Sio Silica’s application “will be subject to the same rigorous, science-based review process as any other project proposal in Manitoba” and promised more details soon about the public inquiry into the company’s approval efforts.
Carla Devlin, Sio Silica’s president, said she believes that inquiry can run parallel to the process of approving her company’s environmental licence.Of course she does; she’s a hanky panky diddler
“Currently our application is in process and it’s under review,” she said in an interview. “We hope that the process run runs fairly, and that a decision is made based on the science and the engineering.”The last decision that ruled “no” was based on science and engineering and you bullies ignore that. I bet you’ll also ignore the next “no” based on science and engineering.
Devlin said Sio Silica supports the public inquiry and is “confident that it’s going to expose that Sio was a victim.”JFC, the arrogance of the Sio Silica fuckers is off the charts; typical frac’ers.
PMO statement
Kinew made his comments after Prime Minister Mark Carney’s office issued a statement on Wednesday, welcoming a partnership between Sio Silica and Germany’s RCT Solutions to build a solar panel manufacturing plant using Manitoba-mined sandwhich is not pure enough to make solar panels with, or do the things Sio Silica promises and thus is likely why now the change in plans to ship the sand itself to Europe. Do the people buying this sand know it’s not pure enough for solar panel making?.
RCT signed a memorandum of understanding with the former Manitoba Progressive Conservative government in 2023.
Devlin said she takes the prime minister’s office statement, which was part of a broader message about critical-minerals partnerships, as Ottawa’s support for her company’s mining proposal.Don’t put too much faith into it. Carney’s a con, a fraud and lies endlessly like Danielle Smith, Trump and Encana/Ovintiv.
“Based on the announcement, I believe that the federal government has support for Sio Silica,” she said.
The federal Liberal government said in a statement that this is not the case.
“Permitting for Sio Silica’s project is a provincial decision, and the federal government wholly respects Manitoba’s jurisdiction on this manner,” said Carolyn Svonkin, a spokesperson for the office of Energy and Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson.You feds fucking better stick to the rule of law on this matter, no Carney forcing the destruction of drinking water aquifers on Manitoba to feed greed in Calgary.
Svonkin said the partnership between Sio Silica and RCT Solutions is between two private-sector companies, and the federal government is not a party.So why the fuck was Carney blathering on about it at the G7? None of his fucking Nazi business.
Kinew nonetheless told CJOB in response to the prime minister’s statement that he’s “never been surprised” by Sio Silica’s lobbying efforts.they’re unfuckingbelievably rude, bullying, dishonest and arrogant
“I want people to be absolutely clear in rural Manitoba — I’m on your side. I’m not on the rich elite side,” the premier told the radio station.
Bob Lagasse, the independent MLA for Dawson Trail,previously with the hideously corrupt Con govt, so I do not trust what he says said he does not take the premier’s comments to mean the NDP government will reject Sio Silica’s second request for a licence.
“In politics, a lot of people say a lot of thingsespecially con politcos like MB prev con gov’t and Carney and Smith and Harper and Trump and and and. It doesn’t mean it’s going to happen,” the former PC MLA said.
Lagasse said Carney’s office was premature in welcoming a project that depends on an environmental licence that has not been granted.Carney operates like a yelling one man show. He’ll rule the licence is not needed, and he’ll rule Sio Silica above the people, drinking water, and the environment.
“They’re putting the cart before the horse here,” Lagasse said in an interview. “They don’t even know the full scope of things and they seem to be recklessly committing to things they have no clue about.”Carney says what Smith, Harper, Trump, Brookfield, and polluting companies tell him to say.
In a separate announcement Wednesday, Sio Silica said the Southern Chiefs’ Organization is considering a partnership with RCT on the solar panel plant.I doubt that plant is going to be built. Sio Silica’s sand is not pure enough for solar panels FFS~! It’s frac sand.
SCO spokesperson Draper Houston said in a statement that projects like this can present “transformative economic opportunities” if they’re structured properly.and if the companies and corrupted councillors involved tell the fucking truth
An earlier effort by Sio Silica to partner with Brokenhead Ojibway Nation was rejected by Brokenhead members in a 2025 referendum.
Tangi Bell, who chairs, Our Line in the Sand, a group opposed to Sio Silica’s mining efforts in the RM of Springfield, said some Brokenhead members characterized these sorts of partnerships as a form of “redwashing.”
PMO issued communique on proposed Manitoba project without doing its homework by: Dan Lett,, Winnipeg Free Press
Premier Wab Kinew was so upset, he got his European cities mixed up.
Kinew was asked last week on a Winnipeg radio show about Prime Minister Mark Carney’s decisionor was it Harper’s, serving Danielle Smith? to include Sio Silica — an Alberta company with German and American partners absolutely the worst fucking combination!!proposing an as-yet unlicensed sand mining project in Manitoba — on a list of promising Canadian critical mineral projects issued during last week’s G7 summit.frac sand is not a critical mineral!
Kinew said Manitoba would not be swayed by the prime minister’s hyperbole into approving Sio Silica’s Vivian Sand Extraction Project, which is believed to pose a threat to drinking water used by more than 100,000 people in southeastern Manitoba.
“I work for the people of eastern Manitoba, not for the Davos crowd,” Kinew said. “We’re going to continue to put the drinking water and the priorities of the people who live in this province first.”
An unapologetic quibbler might note the G7 took place in Evian, France, and not Davos, Switzerland, home to the often-assailed World Economic Forum. But given that Kinew was clearly blindsided by Carney’s communique, he can be forgiven for mistaking one European playground for the rich and famous for another.
The main issue for quibbling is why Carney used the G7 to highlight a project in Manitoba that not only failed to obtain an environmental licence, but was the focus of one of the province’s biggest political scandals.Easy answer, Carney’s a cruel monster, much more so than even Herr Harper, chair of the democracy-hating IDU
It is a safe assumption that Sio Silica somehow managed to convince the Prime Minister’s Office to include the Manitoba project despite its shortcomings. It’s also safe to assume Sio Silica was thrilled and buoyed by Carney’s endorsement. (The company issued a same-day news release out-trumpeting the communique and thanking the PMO for “the support and engagement of the Government of Canada.”
It’s hard to believe the PMO fully understood what it was getting with the Sio Silica reference. At the same time, it’s not hard to see why Carney’s people would love the idea of the Sio Silica project.In my view, Herr Carney knew exactly what he was saying and about exactly how damaging to drinking water Sio Silica is. The longer Carney works as PM, the more obvious his hatred for Indigenous, ordinary Canadians, safe water, air, land and food is.
It involves a source of high-gradewhich does not mean high purity silica sand located close to major transportation infrastructure that carries the promise of value-added investments in the form of glass or solar-panel manufacturing.In my view, Sio Silica’s promises avoid realityThat is exactly the kind of project the Carney government needs to establish Canada’s reputation as a critical mineral powerhouse.
And yet, those details don’t tell the whole story.
Sio Silica arrived in Manitoba in 2019 with a controversial plan to sink more than 7,000 wells and pump out ground water containing high-quality silica sandused in frac’ing.
There were two major problems with the proposal: Sio Silica’s technology had never been used for that kind of application; and the aquifer they wanted to invade is a crucial source of drinking water for more than 100,000 people.far more than that if one includes future people
In 2024, the NDP government rejected Sio Silica’s licence application, deciding the risks of the proposal far outweighed the potential rewards. The company has made a second application, with a scaled-back proposal that involves fewer wells and lower volumes of water.The harms and risks remain unacceptable; I live with my water supply frac’d, it’s been frac’d for 23 years. There is zero mitigation and no repair possible, besides, Encana, cowards that they are, ran away to Nazi USA.
The unresolved environmental concerns surrounding that proposal might be reason enough for the PMO to leave the company out of its G7 communique. But there is also the fact Sio Silica was directly involved in one of Manitoba’s biggest political scandals.
After losing the 2023 election, former premier Heather Stefanson, along with cabinet ministers Jeff Wharton and Cliff Cullen, attempted to force bureaucrats to issue a licence to Sio Silica. The former premier and her ministers violated the so-called “caretaker convention,” a principle of parliamentary democracy that bars outgoing governments from making major decisions before a new government takes control.
The province’s ethics commissioner found Stefanson, Wharton and Cullen had violated the province’s conflict-of-interest legislation and — in a historic first — recommended fines ($18,000 for Stefanson, $12,000 for Cullen and $10,000 for Wharton) approved by members of the legislature.
Sio Silica was not punished in the conflict-of-interest investigation, but it’s hard to believe the company was not aware, and tacitly supportive, of what the outgoing premier and two of her ministers were doing.In my view, the fucking company ought to be banned from any and every mine in Canada, but our leaders usually reward, subsidize and enable the worst of the worst companies, notably if there is an American connection, which in this fucking Sio Silica mess there is.
If there are misgivings in Ottawa about the decision to include Sio Silica in the communique, they are being carefully concealed.
Northern and Arctic Affairs Minister Rebecca Chartrand, Manitoba’s senior representative in the federal Liberal government, said in an emailed statement the G7 communique was not intended to sway the province on environmental approval.
“This is a project involving two private-sector companies and the federal government played no role in that,” Chartrand said.They why the hell did Carney promote and support it? In Europe? In public? Dirty doings by a corrupt dirty man. Carney owes Kinew and all Manitobans apologies.
“We would expect that before anything happens, the project would receive provincial environmental approval.”JFC! what a fucking stupid thing to say
Ah, but there’s the rub.
Even as the company takes another run at environmental licensing, Kinew is readying a public inquiry into the actions of Stefanson and her ministers. That makes approval of the project highly unlikely.
Would the PMO have included Sio Silica in its communique if it had known any of this? It seems possible, even probable, that the authors of the communique saw that Sio Silica has a live licensing application, and decided that was proof enough of its viability.
Sio Silica celebrated the “engagement and support” of the federal government in pursuit of its project. In the end, all that Ottawa has done is harden the Kinew government’s apparent resolve to keep the project on the drawing board.
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Carney’s support for sand mine sparks criticism by: Carol Sanders, Jun. 18, 2026, Brandon Sun
WINNIPEG — Prime Minister Mark Carney has thrown his support behind the controversial Sio Silica sand mine in southeast Manitoba before its second, scaled-down proposal has been licensed.
At the G7 leaders summit Wednesday, Carney trumpeted the memorandum of understanding signed by Manitoba’s Sio Silica and solar technology manufacturer RCT Solutions in Germany to extract sand from a large area east of Winnipeg and turn it into solar panels.It’s frac sand, reportedly it’s not pure enough for solar panels, FFS.
In a news readout, Carney said he met with Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the summit in France and that both welcomed “new investment partnerships” between the two nations, including two in Manitoba to “support a high-purity silica project, to extract 99.9 per cent-plus pure silica sand, highly valued for manufacturing solar panels and semiconductors, advanced manufacturing, and defence-related technologies.”
It said the second partnership involves Sio Silica, RCT Solutions and the Southern Chiefs Organization to build a fully integrated solar manufacturing hub in Manitoba.
Sio Silica said Wednesday that its “strategic partnerships and collaborative initiatives” are designed to reinforce Canada’s position as a global leader in critical minerals and advanced manufacturing strategy. It has entered into MOUs with Germany-based RCT Solutions GmbH and U.S.-based NanoXSolar for the potential “offtake” of high-puritynot pure enough silica from “Sio Silica’s world-class project in southeast Manitoba,” a company news release said.
“These partnerships demonstrate the global significance of Manitoba’s high-purity silica resource and the role it can but won’t, because it’s not high enough purity silica play in strengthening Canada’s critical minerals strategy,” Sio Silica president Carla Devlin said in the release.
“We are grateful for the support and engagement of the government of Canada in helping showcase Canadian opportunities on the world stage.”
Independent MLA Bob Lagasse, a former Tory who represents area residents concerned about the environmental impact of the proposed project, including its effect on the aquifer, said he’s unhappy with the prime minister.
“I think it’s a reckless statement without knowing if the project’s even going through,” said Lagasse, who represents Dawson Trail. “This is our drinking water over here.”Carney is a callous ruthless bully who does not care about water for ordinary Canadians! I bet he plans to force it through, even if MB and Wab Kinew say no again.
The sand mine proposal is working its way through the environmental approvals process and requires close scrutiny, said Lagasse, who quit the Progressive Conservative party in March, citing frustration with leadership and ethics in its handling of the first Sio Silica proposal while in government.
Lagasse urged area residents to contact their federal MPs to express their concerns about Sio Silica’s latest plan.
“Get some pressure on Ottawa to make them realize that this isn’t something that you can make a decision in Ottawa about without knowing what’s going on on the ground in Manitoba,” he said.
Jack Winram, Sio Silica’s chief development officer, has said the company is following proper procedures in seeking environmental approval for a new scaled-down proposal.Pffft. I don’t believe a word the silica sand fuckers say.
Manitoba’s PCs welcomed the prime minister’s announcement Wednesday.Of course they did, they’re corrupt cons just like Carney and his cons. Cousins of corruption serving the worst polluters on earth – American oil and gas frac’ers.
“Manitoba needs major private-sector investment and job creation, and it’s encouraging to see international partners looking at opportunities here,” economic development critic Konrad Narth said in an email.
“Like any project, Sio Silica must go through the proper environmental review process, and those decisions should be based on science and evidence.Which is why Sio Silica was told “No” the first time, and must be told “No” again and again and again. More broadly, Manitobans are still waiting for this Kinew government to create the conditions necessary to get major projects moving and restore investor confidence in our province.”
Premier Wab Kinew was not made available for an interview Wednesday. In December, he called a public inquiry into the former Tory government’s failed bid to push through an environmental licence for a Sio Silica sand mine during the party’s final days in office in 2023 after losing the election to the NDP.
Cabinet communications director Amy Tuckett-McGimpsey did not respond when asked whether the premier knew in advance about the prime minister welcoming Sio Silica investments in Manitoba. She issued a statement saying that Sio Silica’s environmental application “will be subject to the same rigorous, science-based review process as any other project proposal in Manitoba.”
The inquiry is expected to begin later this year.
An ethics investigation last year found former premier Heather Stefanson and two of her cabinet ministers, Cliff Cullen and Jeff Wharton, guilty of violating conflict of interest legislation. Each was issued a fine.
@204queenb0574.bsky.social:
Another column about Carney supporting the Sio silica mine that Kinew already said no to. Brokenhead Ojibway Nation said no. Long Plain signed an MOU for an Indigenous-controlled environmental review but it isn’t endorsing anything. And that review is still pending.
Kinew says it straight. ❤️
Kinew not swayed by PM’s support for silica sand mining project by Carol Sanders, June 18, 2026, Winnipeg Free Press
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s high-profile support for a proposed silica sand mining project in Manitoba this week didn’t move the needle at all for Premier Wab Kinew.
“I work for the people of eastern Manitoba, not for the Davos crowd,” Kinew told a local radio station Thursday. “We’re going to continue to put the drinking water and the priorities of the people who live in this province first.”Corrupt Con Carney could learn a few things from Kinew and the people of Manitoba saying “NO” to Sio Silica and American AI data centre.
Carney, attending a summit of G7 leaders in France Wednesday, issued a statement hailing an investment partnership between Sio Silica, a Canadian company, and Germany’s RCT Solutions on the contentious and not yet approved project that would extract sand from a large area in the RM of Springfield east of Winnipeg and turn it into solar panels. Area residents have expressed concern that the process could impact the aquifer that provides drinking water for thousands.
Carney’s and Danielle Smith’s fake smiles are gross, repulsive, and always the same while Kinew’s smiles are always real and not always identical.Sio Silica’s president issued a statement Wednesday saying the company is pleased to have its mining project recognized by the Carney government on the world stage.
Kinew was asked Thursday if he was was caught off guard by the prime minister’s support.
“I’m never surprised by the lobbying efforts of Sio Silica,” he said.
Last year, Manitoba’s ethics commissioner ruled that former premier Heather Stefanson and two of her cabinet ministers violated the conflict of interest act by trying to ram through an environmental licence for Sio Silica in the dying days of the Progressive Conservative government, after it lost the 2023 election, but before Kinew’s NDP government was sworn in.
The NDP nixed the proposed project when it took office.
“This company had a shareholder and a board member try to force cabinet ministers to approve this project after the government had lost power,” Kinew said Thursday.
In December, he ordered a public inquiry into the matter, citing the need for transparency and accountability.
“Now they have, within their rights, come back to apply for a second try at getting an environmental licence.”
Kinew said his government can look “objectively” at Sio Silica’s latest application. He went on to say, “I want people to be absolutely clear — in rural Manitoba, I’m on your side. I’m not on the rich, elite side. I’m working for you folks.”
Kinew’s concerns about Sio Silica didn’t prevent Carney from promoting the company’s latest proposal for Manitoba, said David McLaughlin, former clerk of the executive council and former prime minister Brian Mulroney’s chief of staff.
“I find it revealing and important that the PM explicitly referred to the Sio Silica project in a formal news release,” McLaughlin said Thursday.
“To the PM and the federal government, this means Sio Silica is a viable project deserving consideration. It also means that inside the federal government, this project has made its way up the ladder to garner the attention of decision-makers, political and bureaucratic.”
The privately held company is not shy about lobbying government, said University of Manitoba political studies professor emeritus Paul Thomas
“The Sio Silica case involves the most high-profile, intense, aggressive and persistent lobbying campaign that I have witnessed in over 50 years,” he said.
“It led to a major scandal, damaged the reputation of the company and made a second licence application more difficult.”
McLaughlin said Kinew, who has often said “the economic horse pulls the social cart” was likely caught off guard.
“At some point the NDP government has to decide whether to keep making this a political football or get serious about economic development projects that fit the moment the country is in,” he said.
The premier likes the attention that goes with saying “no” to projects such as this or the hyper-scale AI data centre proposed for south of Winnipeg that he rejected earlier this month, McLaughlin said.
“This can endear you to local communities and garner a headline. But the heavy lifting of real economic development is finding ways to get to yes on jobs and investment,” he said.
“Failing to advance this is at odds with his own new economic development strategy which calls for ‘facilitating productive investment.’”
Although Kinew said his government will be objective in considering Sio Silica’s second application, “many people — not just the opposition and its allies — will be skeptical that this is the case,” Thomas said.
He said Kinew’s public inquiry into the former government’s failed attempt to approve the company’s first environmental licence application raises questions about whether it can get a fair hearing on its latest project — and if the inquiry is timed to influence the provincial election that must take place by Oct. 5, 2027.
“There is a legitimate question of whether the company can receive a fair hearing during a period when a public inquiry is underway,” Thomas said.
If it happens during an election cycle, “the NDP will remind voters that (PC Leader) Obby Khan was a cabinet minister in a PC government which violated the conflict of interest law and the caretaker convention,” he said.
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JFC! Is anti environment anti people anti water David McLaughlin ever an ignorant asshole. No suprise, with him serving traitor to Canada and all Canadians, FuckAss Genocidare Brian Mulroney selling us out with his great NAFTA deal for USA and hideous horrid deal for Canadians. I wonder if Paul Thomas drinks water, breaths air, likes quiet when he and his loved ones sleep and doesn’t want their bodies contaminated by data centre PFAS pollution.
Carney’s support for controversial sand mine sparks criticism by Carol Sanders, June 18, 2026, Winnipeg Free Press
Prime Minister Mark Carney has thrown his support behind the controversial Sio Silica sand mine in southeast Manitoba before its second, scaled-down proposal has been licensed.
At the G7 leaders summit Wednesday, Carney trumpeted the memorandum of understanding signed by Manitoba’s Sio Silica and solar technology manufacturer RCT Solutions in Germany to extract sand from a large area east of Winnipeg and turn it into solar panels.Repeat! Sio Silica’s sand is reportedly not pure enough for solar panels! In my view, they are propagandizing that it is, to get public support for their high risk aquifer-abusing insanely greedy project in Manitoba. Clean and Green as we Rape your drinking water for our profit and that of fucking American frac’ers.
In a news readout, Carney said he met with Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the summit in France and that both welcomed “new investment partnerships” between the two nations, including two in Manitoba to “support a high-purity silica project, to extract 99.9 per cent-plus pure silica sand,it is not pure enough! Refer below for more details highly valued for manufacturing solar panels and semiconductors, advanced manufacturing, and defence-related technologies.”It’s frac sand, but Germans frac, so I expect they want Sio Silia’s shit no matter what they call it.
CHRISTOPHER KATSAROV / THE CANADIAN PRESS
Prime Minister Mark Carney (left) with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz during the G7 summit in Evian-les-Bains, France, on Wednesday.
It said the second partnership involves Sio Silica, RCT Solutions and the Southern Chiefs Organization to build a fully integrated solar manufacturing hub in Manitoba.
Sio Silica said Wednesday that its “strategic partnerships and collaborative initiatives” are designed to reinforce Canada’s position as a global leader in critical minerals and advanced manufacturing strategy. It has entered into MOUs with Germany-based RCT Solutions GmbH and U.S.-based NanoXSolar for the potential “offtake” of high-purity silica frac sand from “Sio Silica’s world-classembellish much you aquifer wankers? project in southeast Manitoba,” a company news release said.
SUPPLIED Carla Devlin is president of Sio Silica.
“These partnerships demonstrate the global significance of Manitoba’s high-purity silica frac sand resource and the role it can play instrengthening Canada’s critical minerals strategy,” Sio Silica president Carla Devlin said in the release.
“We are grateful for the support and engagement of stabbing Wab Kinew and Manitobans in the back, and lies and propaganda by the government of Canada in helping showcase Canadian opportunities on the world stage.”
Independent MLA Bob Lagasse, a former Tory who represents area residents concerned about the environmental impact of the proposed project, including its effect on the aquifer, said he’s unhappy with the prime minister.
“I think it’s a reckless statement without knowing if the project’s even going through,” said Lagasse, who represents Dawson Trail. “This is our drinking water over here.”
The sand mine proposal is working its way through the environmental approvals process and requires close scrutiny, said Lagasse, who quit the Progressive Conservative party in March, citing frustration with leadership and ethics in its handling of the first Sio Silica proposal while in government.
Lagasse urged area residents to contact their federal MPs to express their concerns about Sio Silica’s latest plan.
“Get some pressure on Ottawa to make them realize that this isn’t something that you can make a decision in Ottawa about without knowing what’s going on on the ground in Manitoba,” he said.
Jack Winram, Sio Silica’s chief development officer, has said the company is following proper procedures in seeking environmental approval for a new scaled-down proposal.I don’t trust you or anyone at Sio Silica. Too many lies and too much bullying bullshit over too many years.
“I think it’s a reckless statement without knowing if the project’s even going through.”
…
Chris Wiebe @chriswiebe.bsky.social:
“Initially they were going to use the silica sand for fracking. Then all of a sudden, we’re not doing that anymore, now it’s going to be all wonderful green economy, we’re going to make solar panels.” Sio Silica’s greenwashing continues.
How Manitoba’s Sio Silica project came to be | The Narwhal
After a decade of local opposition, political scandal and changing plans, the Sio Silica project’s fate is still up in the airthenarwhal.ca
Todd De Ryck @tder2012.bsky.social:
So because they are not using the product for fracking, but instead to supply a German solar panel company with the raw materials they need, this is greenwashing?
Chris Wiebe @chriswiebe.bsky.social:
“Organizations use greenwashing to appear eco-friendly, boost public image, and increase sales—all while their actual operations may continue to harm the environment.” Since Sio is a threat to our water, yes, it is greenwashing to say that this is ok as long as solar cells are made.
Todd De Ryck @tder2012.bsky.social:
An Alberta company that has proposed mining silica sand in Manitoba is partnering with the U of M on the experimental design of a groundwater monitoring network, using technology experts say is becomi…www.cbc.ca
Chris Wiebe @chriswiebe.bsky.social:
What does that prove? That Sio Silica is shovelling money at the UofM to validate their case? It is also highly unethical for the company to be funding or involved in any way with scientific monitoring of the water. They should be completely removed from any analysis and it should be independent.
Todd De Ryck @tder2012.bsky.social:
How about these? aquaticlife.ca/case-studies/ & www.siosilica.com/water-quality
Case Studies | Aquatic Life Ltd
Driven by heightened public demand for environmental accountability, modern mining operations are shifting toward radical transparency, utilizing liveaquaticlife.ca
Chris Wiebe @chriswiebe.bsky.social:
What about that? What if the ground water is contaminated and the local residents raise concerns? Will Sio shut down a multi $B operation? Because Sio Silica works so well when local residents have differing opinions than they do:
The question of monitoring is sort of moot when the water is already destroyed. There is no way to go back. The aquifer will take generations to heal. Local residents won’t have drinking water. Real estate value plummets. The monitoring just shows us we are already screwed if the worst happens.
Given the risk to our water, it isn’t worth it.
It is like an atomic bomb going off in SE MB. You can put up radiation monitors, but they will only tell you that you have a dose and the environmental damage is done.
The only way to prevent that is don’t denote the bomb. Don’t mess with the aquifer
Sio Silica and Arctic Gateway Group Sign Strategic MOU to Explore Future Exports of High-Quality Silica from the Port of Churchill to Europe, Initial estimates foresee the planning of over $100M this smells to me of bribery bribery bribery and one hell of a lot of propaganda, lies, scandal, bullying and lobbying of private investment in the Port of Churchill by Sio Silica, with European offtake agreement in-place by Arctic Gateway Group, June 18, 2026, global newswire
WINNIPEG, Manitoba, June 18, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Sio Silica Corporation and Arctic Gateway Group (“AGG”) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to jointly advance planning for the potential development of strategic high-purity quartz It’s not high purity FFSinfrastructure at the Port of Churchill, a project that would strengthen Canada’s and Manitoba’saddiction to fossil fuels by destroying a vital drinking water aquifer that supplies drinking water for many Manitobans to mine out frac sand economy, diversify Canadian trade with a secure supply of critical mineral exports to Europe, and bolster Canada’s Northern trade infrastructure.
The proposed project would support the movement and handling of high-purity quartz frac sand produced from Sio’s SiMbA Project in Manitoba. Initial plans bribes contemplate approximately $110 million to $124 million in private infrastructure investment at the Port of Churchill, including enclosed storage domes, rail unloading systems, conveyors, ship loading infrastructure, utility upgrades, and a super-sack bagging facility.I do not for one fucking second believe Sio Silica asshats.
Under the proposed framework, Sio Silica would become a key tenant at the Port of Churchill, supporting long-term port activity, northern infrastructure growth, and expanded international trade opportunities for Western Canada.but first, we must get Carney to force approvals for our company to destroy the drinking water of many Manitobans and their health with lung cancer causing frac sand and fumes from our crews blowing into their lungs
Sio has secured a long-term international offtake agreement with RCT Solutions in Germany that is expected to support approximately four ships per year moving through the Port of Churchill once operations commence.Do the Germans know Sio is lying to them, that their frac sand is not pure enough for what they propagandize?
High-purity quartz is a critical mineral essential to semiconductors, fibre optics, solar technology, advanced manufacturing, AI infrastructure, and national defence technologies.Yes, it is, but Sio Silica’s play in MB is for frac sand
“This MOU represents much more than a proposed commercial agreement, it represents an opportunity for Canada and Manitoba to lead in the global critical minerals economy,bla bla bla bla bla” said Feisal Somji, CEO of Sio Silica. We can’t wait to destroy the drinking water supply to fulfill our greed!Canada has highlighted the importance of Arctic Gateway Group and the Port of Churchill as a transformative strategy for Canada. This partnership demonstrates exactly what that vision can look like in practice, with Manitoba resources, infrastructure, jobs and Indigenous partnership, supporting global supply chain security and long-term economic growth.”
“AGG is focused on building a diversified and resilient future for the Port of Churchill and the Hudson Bay Railway,” said Chris Avery, President & CEO of Arctic Gateway Group. “This MOU allows our organizations to begin planning potential infrastructure, logistics, and commercial requirements to support future export shipments of high-quality silica to Europe, while Sio Silica continues its environmental review processes. If the project moves forward, AGG will see major new private sector investment and diversified export growth, with a key tenant at the Port that can operate within our current shipping season.”
The MOU aligns with ongoing efforts to strengthen the Port of Churchill and Canada’s Arctic Trade Corridor. AGG has identified critical upgrades including expanded storage and loading systems, marine infrastructure modernization, and investments in rail capacity to support future growth in critical minerals logistics and northern economic development.
AGG, an Indigenous and community-owned company, iseager to put the drinking water and health of Manitobans at risk while advancing the Port of Churchill as a strategic gateway connecting Canadian resources and industries to global markets while creating generational economic opportunities for Indigenous and northern communities.
here come the usual lies and greedy propaganda about jobs jobs jobs which will most likely never materialize. Why not say millions of jobs – you just need to let Sio Silica destroy the drinking water aquifersIn addition to hundreds of construction and mining jobs, this work could create approximately 20 full-time permanent jobs in Churchill during operations, while also generating additional economic activity through rail operations, port services, and future industrial expansion.
The project is designed as scalable Phase 1 infrastructure capable of supporting significantly larger volumes and future multi-commodity opportunities through Churchill.
Sio Silica stated the partnership further reinforces Manitoba’s growing role in critical mineral logistics, Northern infrastructure development, Indigenous economic participation, and secure allied supply chains.
About Sio Silica Corporation
Sio Silica is developing the SiMbA high-purity silicaaquifer risking frac sand project in Manitoba, focused on supporting global demand for life and water destroying frac’ers as human over population and pollution is driving global warming consequences such as continental drying, severe water shortages, and mass flooding and other harms, like worsening wildfires critical minerals required in semiconductors, solar technologies, fibre optics, advanced manufacturing, AI infrastructure, and national defence applications.
About Arctic Gateway Group Limited Partnership
Arctic Gateway Group is an Indigenous and community-owned company operating the Port of Churchill, Hudson Bay Railway, and Churchill Marine Tank Farm as part of Canada’s Arctic Trade Corridor.
Manitoba mining opponents say Sio Silica licensing process ‘compromised’ by trip involving company, province, NDP-appointed deputy minister took part in delegation to Philadelphia last month by Bartley Kives, CBC News, May 06, 2026
Opponents of a sand-extraction proposal near Winnipeg say the assessment of a new environmental licence for Sio Silica has been compromised by the mining company and the Manitoba government participating in the same U.S. trade mission.
Senior Manitoba bureaucrat Michael Jack and Sio Silica chief development officer Jack Winram travelled to Philadelphia in April as part of a Manitoba delegation to attend four days of a business conference organized by the World Trade Centers Association.
Representatives from three other Manitoba businesses as well as four business organizations took part in the delegation, which was assembled by World Trade Centre Winnipeg.
Jack, a former Winnipeg chief administrative officer, was appointed by the NDP government as Manitoba’s deputy minister of business, mining, trade and job creation in 2024.
A separate provincial ministry, Environment and Climate Change, is reviewing Sio Silica’s second application for a licence to extract thousands of tonnes of sand from below the surface of the rural municipality of Springfield, east of Winnipeg.
“The optics are really bad,” said Tangi Bell, who chairs Our Line in the Sand, a Springfield-based group that has opposed Sio Silica’s mining proposals for five years.
Bell claimed Jack’s participation in the Philadelphia trade trip with Winram compromises the assessment and licensing process underway. Businesses should not have access to senior government officials while their environmental licence applications are under review, she said.
“Developers have a real cosy relationship with them, and they already have more access than ordinary people do,” Bell said in an interview Tuesday.
She suggested the province reform the Environment Act to prohibit such access.
Independent Manitoba MLA Bob Lagasse, whose Dawson Trail constituency includes the proposed Sio Silica mining site in Springfield, said it was not acceptable for Winram to be on the same trip as deputy minister Jack.
- Sio Silica plans to drill fewer wells, remove less sand as part of new request for environmental licence
- Former Manitoba premier violated Conflict of Interest Act by pushing silica sand project: ethics commissioner
“If they’re going on the trip, are they then lobbying the government to do this project?” Lagasse asked in an interview in his office Wednesday.
Lagasse quit the Progressive Conservative party in March. He made the decision partly because of the party’s refusal to expel Jeff Wharton from caucus over the Red River North MLA’s role in the outgoing PC government’s effort to push through approval of Sio Silica’s initial licence application after the Tories lost the 2023 election.
“If I were currently part of this government, I would want to steer as far from this company until it went through the proper channels and before they made any kind of decision on it,” Lagasse said.
The NDP government declined requests by CBC News to speak to Environment and Climate Change Minister Mike Moyes or Business, Mining Trade and Job Creation Minister Jamie Moses.
The NDP government said in a prepared statement attributed to Moses that provincial staff members were asked to attend the conference by the World Trade Centre Winnipeg office.
“There were no organized meetings between government staff and the Sio Silica corporation during the conference,” Moses said.
In a separate statement Tuesday, Sio Silica chief development officer Winram said it was a privilege to take part in the Philadelphia delegation and praised the Winnipeg office for organizing the trip.
André Brin, the CEO of World Trade Centre Winnipeg, said Sio Silica showed interest in the conference and was not recruited.
Manitoba’s public service did not respond to a request to speak to Jack.
The deputy minister praised the World Trade Centre for organizing the trip in a post about the delegation on LinkedIn.
WATCH | ‘Optics are really bad,’ opponents of mining proposal say:
Mining opponents grit teeth over sand miner, province in same U.S. business delegation
May 6|
Duration 1:50Opponents of a proposed sand-extraction operation near Winnipeg say the assessment of a new environmental licence for Sio Silica has been compromised by the mining company and the province participating in the same trade mission.
“No matter where and with whom, Manitoba needs to keep telling its story everywhere, as loudly as it can,” Jack wrote.
Bell, the chair of Our Line in the Sand, said it does not matter that World Trade Centre Winnipeg organized the delegation to Philadelphia.
“Our elected officials and the public servants have to be the better people in all of this,” she said.
“I’m pretty sure they can approach WTC and say, ‘Look, we won’t be attending with any of these individuals [who] are actively pursuing a licence from us.'”
Premier Wab Kinew’s NDP government denied Sio Silica’s initial sand-mining licence application in 2024 over concerns about the potential effects on water quality and the geological stability of the sandstone aquifer below southeastern Manitoba.
Kinew said last year that Manitoba will hold a public inquiry into the former PC government’s post-election efforts to approve an environmental licence for Sio Silica.
- Manitoba rejects Sio Silica sand mining project, saying risk ‘simply too great’
- Manitoba premier vows public inquiry into former PC government efforts to approve sand-mining licence
He also said his NDP government will probably strengthen Manitoba’s lobbying rules in the wake of something that happened in 2023. Outgoing premier Heather Stefanson and two of her cabinet ministers made efforts to greenlight the mining proposal during the two-week caretaker period between their party’s election-night loss and Kinew’s swearing-in ceremony.
Manitoba’s ethics commissioner ruled in 2025 that Stefanson, former deputy premier Cliff Cullen and then-economic development minister Jeff Wharton acted improperly by pushing for the approval of the Sio Silica project after the 2023 election.
Refer also to:
Wab Kinew May 22, 2025:
After you voted, former Premier Heather Stefanson and the PCs tried to ram through a controversial mining deal—after they lost power. They were warned. They broke the law. They were fined. Worse, they ignored your vote. In our democracy, that’s a line you don’t cross.
…
Sio’s Stantec Report shows their deposit does not meet the purity level in phosphorus and boron to make silicon metal for solar panels. Yet Sio claims their sand is pure enough even though there’s documented evidence showing their sand is too fine grained to use in the current silica/carbon smelting process required. High purity quartz rock that can be crushed to the optimum grain size must be used. More details on this failing are included further below in this post.
2023 11 18: Sio Silica go public in Business Combination with Pyrophyte
The sand deposit in Manitoba is not viable for what Sio claims it will be used for which smells to me like Bre-X without the investors rushing in.
The former MB Con gov’t signed an MOU with Sio to promote silicon production of this sand that in my read can’t be used to make silicon metal by any established means.
It appears the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) allowed misinformation (disinformation?) about the deposit then quickly delisted the company for technical reasons. Or did the SEC realize their negligence:
Oct 29, 2024: NYSE to Commence Delisting Proceeding Against Pyrophyte Acquisition Corp. (PHYT)
The New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”, the “Exchange”) announced today that the staff of NYSE Regulation has determined to commence proceedings to delist the three securities enumerated below (“Securities”) of Pyrophyte Acquisition Corp. (the “Company”) from the Exchange. Trading in the Company’s Securities will be suspended immediately. …
NYSE Regulation reached its decision to delist the Company’s Securities pursuant to Sections 802.01B and 102.06e. of the NYSE’s Listed Company Manual because the Company failed to consummate a business combination within the shorter of (i) the time period specified by its constitutive documents or by contract or (ii) three years. …
Many more details at:
Manitoba says “NO!” to Calgary’s Sio Silica Corp (but company appears to be deaf)