We're talking about shovels in the ground in 2018," said Glenn Thibeault this week, in reference to a pair of roads the Wynne government is committed to building to the mineral-rich region.

http://www.thesudburystar.com/2017/12/21/expect-action-on-ring-of-fire-in-2018-mpp

Expect action on Ring of Fire in 2018: MPP

By Jim Moodie, The Sudbury Star

Thursday, December 21, 2017 1:15:26 EST AM

Camp Esker, in the Ring of Fire, is pictured in this file photo.

It won't be too long after ringing in the New Year that the Ring of Fire will begin to feel a bit closer to reality.

"We're talking about shovels in the ground in 2018," said Glenn Thibeault this week, in reference to a pair of roads the Wynne government is committed to building to the mineral-rich region.

Earlier in the day the Sudbury MPP met with representatives of Noront Resources, which plans to both extract chromite from the James Bay deposits and refine it through a smelter that will be built somewhere in Northern Ontario -- potentially Sudbury.

Noront CEO Alan Coutts was thrilled in August when the Liberal government announced it would fund road construction to The Ring, telling The Star at the time this was "the catalyst that was needed."

One road will be an east-west route linking the fly-in First Nation communities of Webequie and Nibinamik to an existing highway north of Pickle Lake; the other will connect Marten Falls First Nation to the provincial highway network via a north-south artery.

The province did not place an exact dollar value on the projects, but said the move is part of a $1-billion commitment made earlier to develop infrastructure in the remote part of the province.

Feasibility studies have since been undertaken and "now we're going to move into environmental assessments," Thibeault told The Star.

The MPP said there is impetus to get moving on the infrastructure "because there is the $1 billion there to start building this, and we do need to have that underway."

The expectation is the federal government will commit a similar amount to Ring of Fire development, although Thibeault said the province will move ahead regardless.

"We can still proceed without it, but it's important to have it," he said.

He said he speaks regularly with his federal counterparts and the issue of Ring of Fire investment "is on the radar -- and it is a lot further along than where it was in the past, when I was at the federal level and oilsands were always the priority."

Thibeault noted Cliffs Natural Resources initially planned to build a $4-billion smelter at the Moose Mountain site near Capreol, which would have created work for "factories and manufacturing companies from St. John's to Vancouver."

Given the broad economic impact of the Ring of Fire, "this is really a national program, a national build, and it would be great for the federal government to be involved," said the MPP.

As for the location of a smelter to process chromite, Sudbury remains very much in the running to host that facility, said Thibeault.

The Nickel City is being considered along with Thunder Bay, Sault Ste. Marie and Timmins as a suitable site, and each community has been invited to submit a pitch to Noront by February.

All can make an argument for an appropriate smelter location, but "Cliffs looked at Sudbury for a reason," noted Thibeault. "There was the existing infrastructure, the existing talent, the existing human resource infrastructure. So I think Sudbury has a very good shot at it."

If it goes elsewhere, however, Sudburians still stand to gain, the MPP stressed.

"There are still going to be lots of benefits for Northern Ontario," he said. "Of course I would like to see it in Sudbury; it's my hometown. But we're all going to win no matter what. So let's just make sure we get it done and in the appropriate place."

The province has little influence on the decision, he said.

It's up to Noront to choose "where they can make the best fit and the most revenue," he said. "And at the same time create the most benefits for the province."

jmoodie@postmedia.com