hydroelectric generating station (Valerie Falls Power) was developed on the Seine River diversion that had facilitated the opening of the mines 40 years earlier. From 2012 until 2014, the Atikokan Generating Station was converted from a coal-fueled to a hundred percent biomass-fueled plant. On February 1, 2013, Resolute Forest Products announced its plans to develop a new single-line random-length sawmill located in the Atikokan area, to be operational in 2014. The plan would create 90 direct jobs in Atikokan, with the additional benefit of supplying residual forest products to nearby pulp and paper mills. Climate Atikokan has a humid continental climate (Köppen Dfb) with four distinct seasons. Winters are long, cold and snowy while summers are warm. Precipitation is higher during the summer months and lower during the winter months. The highest temperature ever recorded in Atikokan was on July 11 & 12, 1936. This is the highest temperature ever recorded in the province of Ontario. Atikokan shares this record with Fort Frances. The coldest temperature ever recorded was on 19 January 1943 and 15 February 1939. Demographics In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Atikokan had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. Economy Atikokan's main employers are the Atikokan Generating Station located 20 kilometres north of the community, the general hospital, Quetico Provincial Park and (collectively) its canoeing outfitters. Ontario Power Generation (OPG) has been one of Atikokan's main employers since the early 1980s. Constructed as a fossil-fuel burning facility, the Atikokan Generating Station burned coal shipped from Saskatchewan until 2012. It was then converted to a biomass plant, re-opening in 2014. Formerly, Fibretech, a fibre board processing plant in Atikokan closed, but was converted by Rentech Inc. to produce wood pellets to supply the newly converted biomass generating station. The Sapawe lumber mill located approximately 30 km from Atikokan reopened under management of Resolute Forest Products. The mill employs 108 workers. Agnico Eagle Mines Limited is planning a new gold mine and ore processing facility at its Hammond Reef site approximately 30 kilometres north of Atikokan. A revised environmental assessment was approved in 2018, building on work by previous owner Osisko Mining Corporation. Two main open pits are planned, and the adjoining plant will process 60,000 tonnes of