Making a plan

While companies might be willing to invest in roads and railways to the Ring of Fire, an official with Cliff’s Natural Resources says it will ultimately be provincial infrastructure.

The province is holding a two-day conference on infrastructure requirements for the proposed mining development. Ring of Fire co-ordinator for the province Christine Kaszycki said it’s the first time for industry, First Nations, government and environmental groups to get together to figure out what’s needed and when.

"At this point what we’re hoping to derive is an understanding of what the key considerations are as they begin to plan," Kaszycki said Wednesday afternoon in a leaky, crowded ballroom at the Valhalla Inn.

"We’ve got a lot of folks here who have a lot of different perspectives and experiences so that should help us in that regard."

Transportation infrastructure is one key item on the table.

Cliff’s senior vice-president of global ferroalloys Bill Boor, with an estimated $30 billion chromite deposit in the Ring of Fire, said having transportation is critical to development. He said it’s encouraging that the province is getting all stakeholders together to discuss the issues.

"From that I think we’ll be able to figure out a way and when I say we I mean that very collectively to move forward with a plan that really will allow us to open up all the opportunities associated with the ring of fire," Boor said.

Cliff’s plan is to have a north/south all-weather road from Nakina to the Ring of Fire, which is located in the James Bay lowlands.

The long-term goal would see a cost-efficient railway put in along the road. While Cliffs is willing to invest in the infrastructure, it is ultimately going to be provincial infrastructure because of the scope of development, Boor said.

Cliff’s has put up its own infrastructure in remote places before but only if Cliff’s was the sole beneficiary of the development.

"We do view this, and these are all the discussions we’ve had with government, First Nations and others, we view this as provincial infrastructure and so in a way it’s not directly part of our project. We think it’s the infrastructure that the province needs to think about for all the social benefits and other development aspects. We’re more than ready to play a part in it invest in it but we think all the stakeholders need to do the same," Boor said.

There are also other options being presented by companies like Noront, which would like to see an all-weather road go east from the development to Pickle Lake. Kaszycki said the government will have a better understanding of the options after the conference wraps up.

Industry anticipates a 2015 start-date for production, which would mean infrastructure construction would need to begin by 2013.

That would only begin once environmental assessments and permitting could be complete Kaszycki said.

"There’s a lot of work to do and things would need to run very smoothly for those targets to be met," Kaszycki said.

More than a dozen Cliff’s workers were protesting in the rain outside of the conference Wednesday. Boor said he’s hoping for a quick resolution to the dispute that saw workers walk off the job last week.

The company is starting to have talks with every worker individually to listen to concerns. Boor said a lot of information the workers have is incorrect and admits the company should have spoken with workers earlier.

"We hadn’t had enough of a dialogue going before," said Boor.