From the conference in June. I think this will put Noront moving ahead and Cliffs coming up with a new rail plan. Noront in the lead again I think. Smart to keep a finger in the community.

Stakeholders meet at infrastructure conference

Ring of Fire transportation corridors were a hot topic during the Ring of Fire Infrastructure Conference June 22-23 in Thunder Bay.

“We had the head of Cliffs Natural Resources, the head of Noront Resources and the head of KWG Resources sitting together talking about their separate visions for the transportation corridor,” said Michael Gravelle, minister of Northern Development, Mines and Forestry. “It was a very positive, amicable session, but they do have some differences. What came out of that was they recognize they have to come together on this as well. Certainly they will be crucial on making that decision.”

A hotbed of mineral exploration activity in recent years, the Ring of Fire contains a potentially large deposit of chromite, a mineral used to make stainless steel. The area is located in the James Bay lowlands near the traditional territories of Webequie and Marten Falls.

Gravelle indicated there would only be one transportation corridor to the Ring of Fire.

“There clearly is an understanding by all three companies despite their different visions that there needs to be one vision for the transportation corridor, so I am optimistic that we will be coming to a decision on that as soon as we can,” Gravelle said.

He believes the environmental assessment process will likely take about two years.

“We heard the companies this morning talk about potentially if all things move forward in a positive way to begin construction of some sort by 2013,” Gravelle said. “Again, that is their ambitious timeline.”

Gravelle said the next job is to make some decisions on the best route for the transportation corridor.

Development requires consultation: Michael Fox

“We need to make the decisions that are going to work certainly for the communities most affected, the First Nation communities in particular,” Gravelle said.

“Will it be rail, will it be road? Which route is it going? Will it be east-west or north-south?”

Michael Fox, president of Fox High Impact Consulting, called for a First Nations position paper from the Ring of Fire communities during his June 23 presentation at the conference.

“The best thing I think is to actually have all the communities here affected by the Ring of Fire come up with their own community position paper and share their lands and resource policies or their consultation protocols so we can find that common denominator so we can actually do planning with the communities as required under the Far North Act,” Fox said
He also discussed power line right of ways and power development opportunities across the Far North; First Nation community land use planning processes under the Far North Act; and a handful of other topics.

Gravelle was impressed with Fox’s presentation.

“It helped educate everyone in the room about how important it is that we recognize there are very many layers to the process we’re moving forward on in the Ring of Fire,” Gravelle said. “It isn’t simply a question of making decisions on the transportation corridor, it isn’t as simple as deciding on where the processing facility is going to be.

“There are obviously crucial elements related to the duty to consult, which the province of Ontario takes very seriously.”

He said everyone involved in the Ring of Fire needs to work together to bring about development.

“We need to roll up our sleeves together, understanding that in order for this project to be successful, that kind of cooperation is absolutely necessary,” Gravelle said. “It is becoming more and more clear to me that certainly the First Nation communities want to embrace the mineral development opportunities but they are also very clear about the fact they want to be sure it is done right and that they see benefits to their communities.”

Gravelle said long-term planning is needed to get the Ring of Fire development right.

“Unquestionably, this is just an extraordinarily big opportunity for the next 100 years, for generations to come,” Gravelle said. “We need to get it right, that is why we have set up a Ring of Fire coordinator, why we are setting up a Ring of Fire Secretariat, and why we are working so hard with all the partners, the First Nations and the companies, to make sure we move forward together. That is crucially important.”

Gravelle envisions the Ring of Fire mineral development area evolving on the same regional scale as some of Ontario’s other historic mineral deposits in Red Lake, Kirkland Lake, Timmins and Sudbury