Irish,

$1B is a bit of money for infrastructure. Let me be brave to have some prediction just less than 1/2 hr before the announcement:

- From the info on KWG map, the EW road proposed by NOT would cost about $80M (and NOT could chip in a bit?) and the alternate EW road corridor would cost about the same amount, plus a bit for the link to Marten Falls. Those 2 roads would serve most FN communities, hence they would go in first for a small fraction of the $1B. In addition, these road would serve as an initial step for the development of the Ni mine, some preparation for chromite mine and building of the RR from multiple entrance points (N and S from the top and Nakina; and from the middle heading N and S).

- The province may want to start the preparation for a NS small service (and public) road. This would speed up the building of the RR as well. The corridor should be able to accommodate the RR and a small service road. An expensive component would be the bridge over large rivers such as the Albany, but one bridge over the Albany for example could be built for both trains and cars for saving some money.

- I can see some power transmission (and telecom fibers) going in along the roads, since the communities and the RoF companies would want to get off diesel.

- Why not just throw in a gas line in the mix (to generate electricity using gas, just like the Oakville, plant, but not to cancel it after the announcement). A gas line would be very nice, and this could be cost-shared with a gas, gas pipeline companies. Space heating would be a lot more economical compared to electricity which should be saved for other purposes such as lighting and running equipments. Natural gas is cheap. This could be used to feed the gas-fired chromite conversion plant proposed by KWG using the new (patent pending?) process.

- Roads are the responsibility of the Province, but the RR, as I understand it, is under the jurisdiction of the Fed. Hence, the bulk of the money ("subsidy") would come from the Fed.

The rest could easily come from other source (private) if there is an indication of firm commitment from the governments.

The Ontario government can prove me wrong though!

goldhunter