Rhammer,
Thanks for the reply, but this confuses me even more.If as Lars says, anyone can use the road. why would anyone ( Noront ) want to sign a " joint use agreement " and agree to pay part of the cost? If Cliffs wants a road so bad, why not let them build it themselves and then Noront can use the road at some later point in time when required.I really can't see Noront and the other Ring of Fire players saying to Cliffs, " We want to help you pay for the road up front!! " Also, do you really think that several companies could come to an agreement as to who is going to use the road and how much, so they could share costs accordingly?
If I were Noront or the other small players, I'd say to Cliffs; Go ahead and build the road. We may or may not use it later, Rico