What an exciting time for furture growth in Northern Ontario.

I read the article written by James Murray with interest. The title is , "Are we putting all our eggs in one basket again?" http://netnewsledger.com/?p=4402

He starts of with :

"From China comes word that the Chinese have launched a hydrogen powered locomotive. Chinese Business News reports, “China’s first new energy fuel cell light rail locomotive adopts hydrogen as the energy for the fuel cells as well as the world advanced permanent-magnet synchronous motor and frequency converter independently developed by the China North Vehicle Yongji Electric Motor Corporation as its main source of power.”

He then brings up chromite and the Ring of Fire and says:

"While there are many who are deeply excited and enthused by the “Ring of Fire”, perhaps the contrast is that if Northwestern Ontario were to become the hydrail manufacturing capital of North America, we could have generations of jobs.

As exciting as the chromite mining opportunities are, realistically, with Ontario’s high power rates, it is unlikely that any secondary processing will be affordable in our region or province. That eliminates the possibility of manufacturing stainless steel here in Northern Ontario."

Manufacturing jobs here in Thunder Bay would put our economy on a more stable economic footing.

Mining jobs in the “Ring of Fire” will offer our region a boom, followed by another bust. As positive as the mining prospects are once the minerals have been extracted, what is left that will foster future economic growth?

Manufacturing jobs, making transportation vehicles or engines would be supplying a product to the world. Having those products both environmentally friendly, and likely to be in demand for the foreseeable future means the research, the jobs and the economy will all prosper. .....

We should not be putting down the opportunities that the “Ring of Fire” offers. However should Northwestern Ontario be putting all our eggs in a chromite basket? Our region has had economic booms and busts ever since the fur trade days.

After reading the article by James I felt like screaming the word : PLATINUM. Also I felt like screaming the other significant metals Noront has found in the Ring of Fire. I wondered if James realized that platinum was used to make fuel cells. I was disappointed in James. Had James studied the goods of the largest landholder : NORONT RESOURCES he could have written a better article.

If James was in front of me I would say James, ...think bigger. You are right in one thing: you write about mining our wealth and when the stuff is depleted we we go bust.

We should not have the vision of mining and processing the wealth from the ROF and turning over the materials to another country like China to make stuff with so we can then buy the finished product for our own use. Did you catch that James...I said materials (not just Chromite James)...Nickel, copper, platinum, palladium, chromite , Titanium, silver, gold, and other juicy 'iums. If James investigated the stuff required to make these Hydrogen Locomotives ...he'd discover that much of the materials lie in his basket of eggs. Yes, James rather than look at mining vs. manufacturing. How about both!. See, there's more than just chromite in them there ROF swapshills. Noront has a grade per tonne for platinum which is higher than what is found in NORILSK. Perhaps I should track down James and email him Noront's corporate presentation where based on the competition shown they have the highest grade platinum on the chart. Platinum is needed for fuel cells, James. If Noront's goods weren't such a media secret James would probably have been able to come to the conclusion himself.

You can mine the products in the ROF and with these materials you can manufacture stuff like hydrogen powered locomotives. And then , sell the finished product. What a concept. Keep what is found here.......Here. And make stuff with it for our use and for export. Create jobs and grow the economy many times over.

The link for the article is here. http://netnewsledger.com/?p=4402

When I read the article I enjoyed very much the post about Warren Buffet (see below. Here is a comment made elsewhere a year ago that might still be of interest:
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Did Warren Buffett just corner the railroad market? Nah. He says he bought Burlington Northern Santa Fe because he likes to play with trains.

Of course, he might have noticed that trains use diesel engines to drive generators to make electricity, which in turn powers the motors that propel the train. Could it have occurred to Buffett that those same motors might be powered with electricity made from running hydrogen through a fuel cell? Might this eliminate that huge diesel-electric drive of the trains, and do so at zero pollution and zero greenhouse gases?

Where would Buffett find the hydrogen? How about the dozens of industrial plants around the country that have hydrogen around as a byproduct of the other things they make. Could he not fill his tank cars there and haul them to the train yards ready to be hitched to trains and power them across the country, and even bring them back without a refill.

Might Buffett have also noticed the bigger fish in the sea: That inevitable hydrogen infrastructure. Unlike oil and natural gas, hydrogen is not easily transported with pipelines. This means it will have to be shipped in tanks, and the cheapest way to ship is still with rail. By the time the hydrogen infrastructure gets underway, Buffett should know something about hydrogen, having hauled it around to power his trains.

Could things get any better for Buffett? How about tanks that hold hydrogen in non-gas form, at low pressure and room temperature. Concrete steps in that direction were taken last week by the engineers at Massachusetts University with their mathematical model for nanotube hydrogen storage. A similar model produced dramatic results last month with metal hydride tanks. And just this June engineers at the University of Delaware achieved storage yields equal to nanotubes and metal hydrides using nothing more than burnt chicken feathers as raw material.

To be sure none of these things occurred to Buffett in buying Burlington Northern Santa Fe. He just likes playing with trains.

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If Ontario was to think big and put all these ideas together what an economic powerhouse we would be.