The minister responsible says they consider the money the province is spending on the St. Lawrence mine a “sunk cost”.

Singapore-registered Fluorspar Holdings Pte Ltd, a subsidiary of AMED Funds, has received court approval for the purchase of the idled mine once owned by Canada Fluorspar.

As part of the purchase, the provincial government is getting close to $4 million, however they will immediately put $3.785 million of that back into the project for a water treatment plant at the site.

Industry Minister Andrew Parsons says the province already spent around $3.5 million to keep the asset during the sales process.

He says if they had not found a buyer, that money would have been lost anyhow, so it made sense to spend it on a process that will help restart the facility, creating “hundreds” of jobs.