Wynne wrote Harper saying Ontario needs federal help with the estimated $2.25-billion cost of infrastructure needed to support mining development, including all-season roads to the remote region 500 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay.

I also suspect that the N/S corridor will not be part of what is being alluded to here. The railroad alone is going to cost about that amount, but the federal and provincial governments would want to invest in a number of diverse infrastructure projects ... transportation, power, and communication.

My guess is that Wynne's dollar amount above would include help with getting an east/west road into place for Noront and others, telecommunication, power lines, etc. I don't believe that this is a negative for KWG's plans for a N/S roadroad. I believe that the government is probably staying away from the N/S corridor because they know that a railroad makes the most sense and they know that it has sufficient financial appeal to be able to attract financing on its own. They may provide indirect support by allowing the creation of a Port Authority, etc., but I don't believe any significant amount of the dollars alluded to above would be applied to a railroad.

Ultimately, as many of us realized ages ago, multiple access points (starting with an E/W road and N/S rail in the next four or five years) will make the most sense for the region.