It appears the government does not have to make commitments as Cliffs seems to be pretty motivated and willing to commit on their own right now. Cliffs seems to want/need this in a big way and imo they have blinked. Time line clock is ticking for them. There are tons of things Cliffs needs support/help with, each being a positive negotiating point for the province.

If I was on the government strategy team, I would lobby to publicly make commitments to Noront project rather than to Cliffs as Noronts project is more fully developed, simpler and cheaper, just to gage Cliffs reaction. I would want to agree a hydro rate with Noront and check how Cliffs reacts to that. Having said all this, imo, east/west road will happen regardless.