A new partnership between a Calgary mining company and the Indigenous-owned operator of the Hudson Bay Railway could pump up freight traffic through The Pas, creating jobs and economic spin-offs for the region.
On June 18, 2026, Sio Silica Corporation and Arctic Gateway Group signed a memorandum of understanding to study shipping high-purity silica sand from the Port of Churchill to Europe. The plan would see trains hauling the sand north along the 825-kilometre rail line that starts in The Pas and runs to Churchill.
Arctic Gateway Group, owned by 41 First Nations and northern Manitoba communities through OneNorth, operates the port and the railway. If the silica project moves ahead, it would mean more rail cars rolling through The Pas, drawing on local workers and services.
Initial plans call for $110 million to $124 million in private investment at the Port of Churchill, building storage domes, rail unloading systems, conveyors, and ship loading equipment. Sio Silica has already locked in a long-term deal to sell the high-purity quartz to RCT Solutions, a German company, which would mean about four ships per year leaving Churchill once operations start.
The project could create roughly 20 permanent jobs in Churchill, plus hundreds of construction and mining jobs. Increased rail activity would also mean more business for the corridor that runs through The Pas, a key hub for the railway.
Still, the plan hinges on provincial approval. Manitoba’s NDP government rejected Sio Silica’s earlier mining licence in February 2024, worried about risks to the sandstone aquifer that supplies drinking water to about 100,000 people. The company filed a scaled-back application in fall 2025, proposing 492 wells across 28 square kilometres over five years, extracting no more than 1.9 million tonnes of sand. A decision has not yet been made.
High-purity quartz is a critical mineral used in semiconductors, solar panels, fibre optics, and defence technology. The Port of Churchill’s shipping season typically runs from mid-July to late November because of Hudson Bay ice.
