TIMMINS, Ont. — The federal and provincial governments are not likely to make any significant moves on the Ring of Fire mining project until there is a vast improvement in mineral markets, says federal Treasury Board president Tony Clement.

The guest speaker at a Timmins Chamber of Commerce luncheon Monday, Clement responded to a question about the Ontario Chamber of Commerce’s Ring of Fire report card, which gave failing grades to both levels of governments for not being proactive enough to get mining projects up and running.

The report card blamed red tape in the mine permitting process, as well as a failure to provide infrastructure, such as better road or rail links.

"There has been little progress developing this extraordinary economic opportunity," it read.

The Ring of Fire project is a mining development about 600 kilometres northwest of Timmins, in the remote McFaulds Lake area. The prospect is identified mainly as a chromite project, valued in the tens of billions of dollars.

There are huge deposits of other metals there, too, but so far none of the three significant mining companies involved has moved forward with any sort of mining operation.

The major players in the region are Canadian companies Noront Resources and KWG Resources , and U.S. company Cliff's Natural Resources .

Cliff's is in the process of trying to sell off its prospect, while Noront and KWG continue to plan for the day when they can begin development work.

Clement said it is not realistic to expect government to step in and boost the Ring of Fire at this time.

"There are two things that have to happen before the Ring of Fire can take off," Clement said.

"The first thing you need is economic conditions so that private-sector mining companies can feel confident that when they start to invest in the Ring of Fire there will be a return on their investment."

Clement said Canada's mining sector has not been promising in recent years, not because anything was done wrong in Canada, but because of world economic conditions.

"The second thing we need — and this is more out of our control at the federal level — is you need the organization that controls the natural resource to have a working relationship with First Nations communities, so that they can have an understanding of economic success that works for both. Of course, when I mention the organization that controls the natural resource, I am talking about the province."

In the meantime, Clement said the feds have been active in "building up capacity" on First Nations reserves, with things like vocational education, training and governance “so they can deal with the complex issues associated with the Ring Of Fire.”

"So I think that is an investment well work making as a lead up to when the economic factors are in alignment for future activity," Clement said.