"Doing so would be inviting an environmental disaster or at best future environmental problems with clean up." While I agree with trucking not being economical for chromite, there is no environmental issue with chromite as it is inert except under very special conditions ( in the presence of manganese oxides and oxygen) which would not exist in the event of a spill. Furthermore any organic material such as sphagnum moss would quickly reduce any Cr (VI) to inert Cr (III).

There is absolutely no Cr(VI) in chromite. The whole Chromite - Cr (VI) issue is a "red herring" used by the environmentalists to further their cause of no development in the boreal forests of Canada.