A delegation to promote the Ring of Fire in China

A text by Stéphany Laperrière

What do you hope to get out of your stay in China?

We are leaving with the leader of the community of Marten Falls and we want to get support from China to help develop the Cercle de feu and the chromite deposit. The banks would probably be the ones that would support the financing of the railway and the mine, provided that buyers promise to buy our products. We can not develop the circle of fire without a buyer and it is 60% of the chromite extracted and ferrochrome produced in the world that goes to China, it is important that they be with us from the beginning.

Where are we in the development of the Circle of Fire?

As it is there, it is still very far from starting to do the work in the Circle of fire. The reason it has not started is really the policy between the First Nations, Canada and the Province of Ontario. First Nations want not to be excluded from development, they want to participate, and they are trying to come to an agreement on how they will do it. They are currently discussing the choice of road leading to the Ring of Fire. They have not yet reached a conclusion on this choice. Premier Kathleen Wynne met with the chiefs last week to ask them to come to this conclusion.

Does your project depend on the outcome of these negotiations?

We do this independently, with the support of the community of Marten Falls, which is not part of the discussions that other First Nations have about road choices west of the Ring of Fire. Marten Falls wants a north-south corridor between Nakina and the Ring of Fire, which contains a road and a railroad, passing close to Marten Falls. It is entirely possible that we will be funded completely and that we will not need government funding to support us. What is happening in the west, from our point of view, does not concern us, we need a railway to make the development of chromite deposits profitable.

Were you surprised that the Ring of Fire was not mentioned in the most recent Ontario budget when it was last year?

What is funny is that in the past years, the billion was mentioned in the text, but not in the budget calculations, it was still just a promise. What has changed this year is that it is not mentioned in the text, but they called us after the budget to tell us that the billion-dollar promise was still there.

The province has committed to allocating up to $ 1 billion to the development of strategic transportation infrastructure in the region

 Excerpt from the 2015 budget, page 309, included in the 2016 budget, on page 65

When is the first shovel of earth for the construction of the railway according to you?

At least five years. Even if the funding for the project were secured tomorrow, an environmental assessment and licensing is required, which takes time.