It's a good thing that Fedeli expressed his view that the rail along the N-S corridor would be the way to go for hauling out the bulky chromite out of the RoF. Both NOT and KWG agreed that the E-W as proposed by NOT and the alternate E-W roads should be constructed first and the RR later. The roads would provide:

- means for getting equipment and supply up to the site for NOT to build the Ni mine (and chromite later). Ni concentrates (less bulky than chromite) could be hauled out by trucks initially, but later when the rail is available NOT would switch to rail (a lot cheaper)

- means for getting equipment and material up at various entry points to start the contruction of the RR from 4 locations (the two extreme ends, and from mid point, going North and South, somewhere near Marten Falls (see KWG alternate E-W road map). This would be 4 times faster than just building from one end (i.e. Nakina).

- transportation links to the northern communities.

The costs of the E-W roads (see KWG map) are not that expensive, approximately $100M for each of the E-W roads for a total of about $200M for both (or ~$0.25B), compared to $1.1B for the private road for monster trucks that was proposed by CLF, reportedly with a $600M subsidy from the former Premier, the one before Wynne.

In sumary, the $1B promissed by Wynne and $1B+ by Horwath should take care of both E-W roads, with some leftover ($0.75B) for a small N-S service road along the RR, noting that the $1.1B private road proposed by CLF fro monster trucks is now dead. Despite the tough talk from Ms. Wynne, the Feds would be expected to chip in (Hudak would have a better chance to get more money than Wynne) to build the RR, along with potential contribution from key players in the Development Corp/Port Authority. It should be noted that any constributions from the government would be repaid through tax (and/or royalty?) revenues.

Similar Authorities have been set up before and they can issue long-term bonds (guaranteed by the governments) to provide additional funding for the operations. Tolls could be collected to service and to pay down the debts. As KWG has recently indicated, the RR operated by such an Authority would not cost taxpayers any money. The toll revenues for the RR for hauling out some $60-100B worth of resources in the RoF should be more than enough to give positive cash flow for the Authority.

Bottom line: Money is not the issue (there is plenty around for well defined projects), it's the political will, starting at the provincial level (see KWG proposed legislation), that will drive the RoF.

Just my opinion folks.

goldhunter