The Ring is a massive, 5,120-square-kilometre area of pristine wilderness that happens to be on Marten Falls' traditional land and is said to hold one of the richest ore deposits in the world.

If speculators are correct, there is enough chromite, a rarely found mineral used to make stainless steel, to mine steadily for the next 100 years. The spin-offs to digging are potentially enormous.

A railway nearly 350 kilometres long would be constructed from the Ring to Nakina in the south and would join the existing rail line. A processing plant would be needed. Supporting businesses would be created; proper airports and roads built.

Thunder Bay would boom like Sudbury did when nickel was discovered. There could be jobs for First Nations people for generations to come.

One U.S. investment report values Freewest's chromite discovery to be worth nearly $30 billion in situ, or in the ground. Chromite, an iron chromium oxide mineral that takes 3 billion years to form. The bulk of the chromite deposit begins at the location of Freewest's claim and weaves through the earth to property staked out by KWG Resources Inc. before springing up in land held by Noront.

Freewest begins drilling again in June.

The chromite found in the Ring of Fire runs 40 metres thick in spots and appears to be deep. In comparison, South Africa's chromite deposit runs in a small seam in the earth about 1 to 2 metres thick.

The key is that everything now is still speculative, he continues. It will be years down the road before the action heats up. And who knows what the world economy and demand for raw materials will be like then. "This doesn't happen overnight," says Hoy. "The railway will take some time. The mine itself needs to be built, a smelter. In order to build, it'll take a lot of money and time."