A Cautionary Tale for the Ring of Fire

For nearly ten years, there has been much talk about the enormous potential for economic development represented by the Ring of Fire in Northern Ontario. While there is no denying the enormous untapped value of this resource, there exist many challenges and obstacles – some known and some yet to arise – to its development, and consequently it could take what may seem like a very long time to realize this goal.

Dr. Mark Kuhlberg, Laurentian University history professor, uses the early history of the pulp and paper sector in Dryden, Ontario, to provide an object lesson about the reality of natural resource development projects in Northern Ontario.

According to Kuhlberg, the Dryden mill took decades to reach full capacity. He writes, “Although it had first been conceived as a project in the early 1900s, it was only during the 1950s that it began to exploit fully the natural bounty that surrounded it. This process was delayed for so long by a complex mix of local, provincial, national and international factors, and other forces.” Sound familiar?

The commentary, From Resource to Revenue: Dryden Mill Lessons for the Ring of Fire, provides a brief snapshot of the early development of the Dryden Paper Company in order to highlight some forestry history in Northwestern Ontario, but more importantly, to temper some of our expectations regarding the Ring of Fire.

With the Ring of Fire question, Kuhlberg writes, “the political landscape is, in many ways, even more complicated for resource industries today than it was during Dryden Paper’s first few decades of existence.” While it is important we see a more concerted effort to overcome these challenges, Kuhlberg’s cautionary tale is important reading for those “who are prone to pinning their hopes for Northern Ontario’s future prosperity on the rapid realization of potential mining developments such as the Ring of Fire.”

Click here to read the full report
http://www.northernpolicy.ca/upload/documents/publications/commentaries/resource-to-revenue.pdf