In my previous posting I said "What is holding us back is lack of basic infrastructure and permits to deliver the metal to market."

I knew immediately after results of hole 49 came out in 2009 that the ore was rich enough and the size was large enough for it to become a mine some day.

What was and still is lacking is per the above quote.

If an all year road was available to the Ring, add to that a sufficiently capable electrical power line and finally a rail line link, even the 3 million ton resource size would have been enough to have a viable mine.
Mind you the mine would be much small than what we now expect and we would have almost no say or potential contribution as to how the region develops. I mean contributing to infrastructure construction other than our own mine facilities.

My reasoning is the value obtained from each ton of ore compared to the cost of processing it, or return on expenditure.

Smaller resource size just means that the mine would have been smaller and we would be completely dependent on others for the transportation and power to serve the mine.

As it is now we are able to contribute to some of the costs. That is also why Cliffs' entry into the fray has produced so much attention from the media and now even the politicians are begining to listen - if only the politicians would deliver.
Cliffs is large enough and their chromite body is also large enough for them to not only be a major costs contributor but they could do it alone. They don't go alone because they expect the governments to be major contributors in lieu of the taxes they will receive. Why pay for someting that you are entitled to receive anyways and will pay for it indirectly later.

So any concerns that we have now about size of resource at Eagle's Nest, it's quality or profitability should go out the window.

Concern yourself about what governments provide, about cooperation of the natives, that they receive a fair shake but not disproportionate and finally that Cliffs and other companies in the region cooperate in sharing proportional costs to their expected usage.

Any how, it all looks fairly rosy as I see things.