'Significant progress' on Ring of Fire: Gravelle

Responding to a sea of criticism over its handling of the Ring of Fire, the province's Minister of Northern Development and Mines insisted Tuesday his government's strategy will make the chromite discovery a success.

Michael Gravelle said he's pleased with the progress his government has made, despite comments from opposition politicians and business that the $60-billion project is languishing under the Liberal guidance.

“We have a clear plan and we're implementing it,” Gravelle said, who said they have made significant progress in recent weeks.

But the biggest stakeholders in the project is considerably less optimistic. In an interview last week, Cliffs Natural Resources CEO Lourenco Goncalves told the 'Financial Post' there's “zero” hope infrastructure and other issues plaguing the deposit will be resolved in his lifetime. He said had he been in charge at the time, the company never would have gotten involved with the project.

“And I plan to stay (alive) another 50 years,” he said in the article. “The Ring of Fire is a remote land with no railroad, no road, nothing ... Without the infrastructure, there’s nothing we can do.”

Gravelle said Goncalves' comments were “startling ... and just plain unhelpful,” he said.

But they are more of a reflection of the troubles Cliffs is having as a corporation than in developing the Ring of Fire, Gravelle. For example, their Bloom Lake iron ore facility in Quebec needs $1 billion in investments or it will be shut down.

He said major mining projects routinely take a lot of time to get off the ground, pointing to the Victor Diamond Mine in Quebec, and even Tottem Mine in Sudbury.

“It often takes years before these projects come to fruition,” Gravelle said.

He said the development corporation they have set up for the Ring is making progress, and pointed to the framework agreement signed in March with the nine Matawa-member First Nations that sets guidelines for both sides to move forward with a negotiations.

While MPP Michael Mantha, the NDP's critic for Northern Development and Mines, dismissed the Devco as little more than “four bureaucrats sitting at a table playing euchre,” Gravelle said it's the way such major projects have to be developed.

“I'm pleased with the progress we've made so far.”

He also dismissed criticisms from the candidates for the provincial Progressive Conservative leadership, all of whom have accused the Liberals of mishandling the project.

And the contenders for the Progressive Conservative leadership were equally critical when they debated in Sudbury at College Boreal on Monday.

“Cliffs has walked away” because the province is “dithering,” said Christine Elliott, in a debate at College Boreal on Monday. “We need to know what the access is going to be – whether it's going to be a road or rail or pipeline – how are we going to do this?”

Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli, who describes himself as a regular visitor to the Ring of Fire, said he has watched the development deteriorate from a site with busy mining camps employing 250 a few years ago, to about six today.

“The camps are gone,” Fedeli said. “Ideologically, this is a government that doesn't want to see this happen.”

He repeated his plan to start small in the Ring by building an all-season road to Webequie First Nation.

“One of the companies (Noront) is interested in getting the nickel out – it's not the sexy chromite, the big-money chromite, but it's easier to get at,” Fedeli said. “We would help the company build a road from the Ring over to Webequie, the nearest First Nation community in consultation with Webequie and the Mattawa and all the First Nations.”

When asked why not start with smaller projects to get restart activity in the area, Gravelle said they are in regular contact with Noront and the other mining companies with stakes in the area. But he chided the Tories for ignoring the North during the June election, and for using the Ring as a political tool.

“We are eager to have the opposition on board,” Gravelle said, particularly in efforts to get the federal government to match the $1 billion the province has already committed to the project.

The federal government, however, has said the money could come from Ontario's share of the Building Canada Fund. But the province says that would take money away from other infrastructure projects and wants a separate, matching commitment.

While there's been no indication the federal government is willing to do that, Gravelle said he holds out some hope because Greg Rickford, the federal minister in charge of the Ring, is from Kenora and understands how important the project is.