...don't like this part though:

"At current provincial power rates, there isn't a location in Ontario that is economically viable for Cliffs to build the FPF. Despite this, we have named Sudbury as the 'base case' location, which we believe is representative of a technically feasible site," said Boor. "The viability of an Ontario-based FPF and final selection of the location are still being evaluated."

Timmins chamber president issues dire warning about Ontario energy costs

Updated 6 days ago

Gary Marriott says Ontario will continue to lose economic development opportunities unless something is done to bring energy costs down

By Len Gillis / lgillis@timminstimes.com

The president of the Timmins Chamber of Commerce said electrical energy pricing needs to be used as an economic development tool in Ontario.

"Energy costs are quickly becoming inhibitive to doing business in Ontario," Chamber president Gary Marriott told the Ontario Government standing committee on Finance and Economic Affairs. The committee held hearings at Cedar Meadows resort in Timmins Thursday morning. Marriott used last year's shutdown of the Xstrata Canada Met Site smelter as an example.

"Here in Timmins we were once home to the largest single-site electricity consumer, the Xstrata metallurgical site," Marriott told the hearings.

He said that in the years leading up to the closure, "they often cited energy costs as one of their greatest challenges to doing business in Ontario."

Marriott said the ore coming out of the ground in Timmins now finds it way to processing plants outside of Ontario.

Marriott also mentioned that the much vaunted Ring of Fire Chromite deposit will not provide much benefit if the ore cannot be processed economically in Ontario.

He said the concern was not only for mining and forestry but also for energy users in downtown Toronto. Marriott quoted a report that showed a large energy user in Toronto will pay two times more for electricity than a business in Winnipeg and 1.6 times more for electricity than a business located in Montreal.

"Our neighbouring provinces are looking more and more attractive to businesses, Marriott warned.

"Until this is addressed in a very serious way, Ontario will continue to lose manufacturing and refining operations," said Marriott, adding that if the trend continues, Ontario will miss out on "the lucrative opportunities" of the Ring of Fire mining and refining developments.

Marriott's statements were made in the same conference room at Cedar Meadows where Xstrata CEO Charlie Sartain predicted in August 2007 that the operation of the Met Site was in danger unless something was done about energy costs.