COVID-19: Ontario, Quebec premiers order non-essential businesses to close

[caption id="attachment_1003734502" align="aligncenter" width="550"] Windfall drill core Credit: Osisko[/caption] Ontario premier Doug Ford and Quebec premier Francois Legault have ordered non-essential businesses in the two provinces to close starting Wednesday, Mar. 25 due to the growth of COVID-19 cases in Canada. Ontario's list of essential stores and services will be released tomorrow with the order expected to remain in place for at least 14 days. Quebec expects its non-essential closures to extend for at least 3 weeks. While no details have been made available yet about how these orders will apply to mining and exploration projects, in his media statements, Ford did note that certain construction projects, such as a hospital build, would be considered essential. Shortly after the announcements, Osisko Mining issued a release saying that it has suspended operations at its Windfall gold exploration project in Quebec. The mandatory closures in Ontario and Quebec follow similar measures from a number of U.S. states, as well as from France, Spain, Italy and Australia.