“The company estimates the adjudication process will conclude in three to four months depending on the competitiveness and complexity of the bids and the ensuing commercial negotiations,” Noront added. “A decision will be publicly announced at that time along with the criteria and rationale for site selection.”

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http://www.thesudburystar.com/2018/07/10/noront-smelter-decision-3-4-months-away

Sudbury has identified the former smelter site in Coniston as the ideal place to host a ferrochrome smelter.

Noront is moving forward with the selection process for the new ferrochrome smelter and should announce the host community within the next three to four months. 

In a release, the company said it has retained Hatch, a Mississauga-based engineering and consulting company, to assist in adjudicating four bids it has received.

“Next steps include calculating indicative capital and operating costs, and reviewing these alongside community and First Nations support, site appropriateness, environmental factors, access to a skilled workforce and other elements,” Noront said.

“Near the conclusion of this detailed analysis, Noront will engage directly with the owners of the favoured site(s) to come to a mutually agreeable commercial arrangement for the use of the property.”

The submission period for site bids on the proposed ferrochrome production facility closed in February. Four completed bid packages were received by the deadline, from Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury, Thunder Bay and Timmins.

“The company estimates the adjudication process will conclude in three to four months depending on the competitiveness and complexity of the bids and the ensuing commercial negotiations,” Noront added. “A decision will be publicly announced at that time along with the criteria and rationale for site selection.”

There has been vocal opposition to the $1-billion smelter in Sudbury and a group recently held a small protest in Wahnapitae to inform Sudburians of their concerns.

They say building the ferrochrome plant so close to the Wahnapitae water treatment plant is too risky.

"When you think about where our water intake is to the context of all of that, we want Sudbury to be aware," Kate Kearney, a member of No Ferrochrome Sudbury, said recently. “The concern is the risk.”

The smelter, which has been proposed for a Vale property in Coniston, would be just 4 km from the water treatment plant, which pumps water to New Sudbury, Coniston, Garson and Wahnapitae. No Ferrochrome Sudbury said the plant supplies 60 per cent of the city's drinking water.

The smelter could create as many as 1,000 direct and indirect jobs, when spinoff jobs are considered.

"We want jobs in Sudbury, but not at health costs," Kearney added.

But Mayor Brian Bigger and a delegation traveled to Finland earlier this year to see how ferrochrome processing can become a success story. He said following his visit, he has no concerns about the health impacts of the smelter.

“I have no concerns,” he said. “That’s the level of confidence I wanted to come back with, with the entire team. We asked questions of all of the people we met, looking for any concerns whatsoever on their part. We found none. On my part, I have full confidence in welcoming a ferrochrome facility into our community. I think it’ll go well with our plans to diversify our economy and attract investment to create jobs. It fits in with the long-term strategy of growing our community.”

There is deep expertise in the local mining sector, Bigger said, and we should capitalize on that knowledge.

“There is a lot of expertise within our community to support that kind of operation,” he said in February. “We’re familiar with these types of operations in Sudbury. We understand what’s required to support that kind of business.”

Bigger said Sudbury is well positioned to host the smelter. The city is at the junction of the CN and CP rail lines – “nowhere else in Canada do you see that,” he said – and is on the TransCanada Highway. Currently, a road is planned to connect the Ring of Fire to the country’s main rail lines. 

Ward 6 Coun. Rene Lapierre traveled with Bigger to Finland in his role as chair of the board of health.

He spoke with several people in Finland and said the moonscapes that defined Sudbury for much of the 20th century are unlikely to be replicated. He said he has no concerns about the smelter or its impacts to the local environment. 

“Based on the information we were able to gather with my discussion with health officials and the director of health and social services for Tornio, I feel the risks associated with the style of smelter used in Outokumpu (the smelter in Finland) is very low therefore would not be of concern to our residents,” Lapierre said.

“Outokumpu has been doing annual and some biannual environmental assessments. They test water, aquatic life, plants, animals, some grubs and more to see if there are any changes to the surroundings of the smelter. … They have not had any environmental changes to these due to the smelting process.”

Lapierre feels equally confident that a chromite smelter in Sudbury would pose no health risks to Sudburians.

“From the discussion with local officials and staff and environmental experts at Outokumpu the system they use is very safe,” he noted. “Not only is it safe for the environment, but for the workers who are part of the processing the risks for danger are low. Where there are any inclinations of higher risk the company is a large advocate of employee safety and all the proper personal protective equipment is issued to mitigate the risks.”

Noront also continues to drill at the Ring of Fire chromite deposit.

Cyr Drilling, in partnership with Webequie First Nation, began a three-hole drill program targeting high-grade copper-zinc mineralization at the company’s McFaulds Lake volcanogenic massive sulphide property.

This is taking place at a recently discovered, high-priority electromagnetic anomaly located mid-way between the McFaulds No. 3 and No. 1 deposits. More drilling will take place on the newly discovered McFaulds No. 8 copper-zinc VMS occurrence.

“We are very excited about the continued discovery potential at the McFaulds VMS camp and look forward to providing shareholders with additional exploration updates in the weeks to come,” Ryan Weston, Noront’s VP of exploration, said.