The Ring of Fire: Keep it simple, stolid!

What mine transport infrastructure is needed to get the $50B worth of chromite and $10B nickel concentrate to market at world competitive prices?

The nickel is easy. The 150k/t/yr can travel either of the two different (KWG or Noront) proposed east-west routes by all-season light-weight road but Noront's nickel $10B alone does not justify even starting any form of RoF infrastructure. Both the chromite and nickel revenue streams are required immediately at mining start to support this large regional development.

However, 4M/t/yr of heavy chromite concentrate, only valued at $200/t, and ferro-chrome at $2,858 CAD/t, can not travel on any east west road.

Trucking the chromite concentrate atop the only feasible north south esker to Nakina costs ~$60/t/yr ($1.1B CAPEX), by rail ~$10/t/yr ($1.8B CAPEX). By chromite slurry pipeline it's about ~$4/t/yr ($600M CAPEX).

Solve the chromite transportation problem and then nickel transport is solved automatically.

Trucking is far too costly and a poor choice environmentally. Rail is economically feasible over 100 years but it has a high CAPEX, the same environmental issues as trucking on a heavy industrial road and 4m/t/yr does not justify a rail solution.

The answer and only solution is a north-south light-weight service all-season road coupled with a buried chromite slurry and natural gas pipeline(s) beneath the road with optional topside electrical transmission lines. The esker is too narrow in some places to accommodate both industrial road, rail and power.

Using pipeline and the new patent pending KWG gas-fired reduction process for a reactor in Nakina for direct reduction of chromite concentrate, (more that 50% cost saving over Primus SAF), and a second parallel pipeline bringing natural gas north to two gas-fired electrical generating stations, will be very world competitive, even in today's depressed chromite and ferro-chrome market.

A pipeline solves First Nation environmental concerns of a north south railway's larger 98 bridges and culverts, while providing adequate revenue sharing and partnerships. The supplementary connection of the First Nations through the alternative east west route would provide social and political license through provision of needed road, power and communication infrastructure to the RoF mines and local communities while respecting conservation environmental models.

This inter-connected east-west, north-south “forestry road” to Pickle Lake would connect the Webequie, Marten Falls, Neskantaga, and other local Matawa First Nations, while an extension of the Ontario Northland Railway (ONR) from Hearst to Nakina, would allow for a Canadian stainless steel production facility in Sorel, 80 kilometres northeast of Montreal on the St. Lawrence River.