It is not odd at all. He and Noront have been saying all along a road is needed first, but everyone still goes on and on about the chromite which is not economical now and not likely to be for a long time. The last thing Noront needs is to have attention diverted away from the road, which seems to be what is happening. The slap in the face by Al is to bring everyone to their senses, good work Al !

The Chinese don't care about the economics of the chromite they just want to build a railroad and if they can make that happen by pumping everyone up about the chromite they will do it. As for KWG, all they have is chromite so of course they are going to be cheering on the chromite.