https://saultonline.com/2018/07/363874/

Noront CEO Discusses Sault Ste. Marie

NORONT Resources Ltd. CEO Alan Coutts and MP Terry Sheehan in Ottawa June 2018 when the two met to discuss the Ring of Fire project. Sault Ste. Marie is one of two remaining locations being considered for New Chromite Smelter. photo courtesy MP Terry Sheehan's office.

Sault Ste. Marie has leap-frogged over Sudbury and Thunder Bay to be one of the final two communities bidding for the rights for Noront to set up its ferrochrome plant. Exhaustive work by city officials and all members of local gov’t convinced Noront Resources Ltd. CEO Alan Coutts and his team that Sault Ste. Marie needs to be further examined.

The Sault’s geographic location was important in their decision he said but was not a major factor.

“What we did like” stated Coutts, “was the ability to potentially bring in big volumes of anthracite coal (needed in the ferrochrome process) through the Great Lakes to the Port of Algoma so that was an advantage. What we really did like with the Sault Ste. Marie site was that there wasn’t a lot of earthworks to do, as some of the other sites would have required a lot of drilling and blasting to level the site to prepare it for the smelter construction plant. The Sault’s site would require a little bit of movement and preparation to make it level and ready to use but not a lot, so that was a big advantage. We also liked the fact that the site already had the infrastructure and we really liked the ability to maybe share that infrastructure with Algoma (Essar Algoma)”

Mr.Coutts said the next step would be to come to a commercial agreement with the site they chose. What they are looking to do was to save hundreds of millions of dollars repurposing an existing site and not starting from scratch.

Negotiations will be ongoing between Noront and the two communities (Timmins/Sault Ste. Marie) and the owners of the sites offered in question. The Sault’s site would be on property owned by Algoma (Essar Algoma).

He commented that “If the commercial deal we strike with the owners erodes that advantage then we are no further ahead, so we have to understand what the terms of the commercial arrangement will be and that will help us determine where the final site will be.”

Since the brownfield site to be used in the Sault would be on Algoma property, it was important to have assurances that once out of bankruptcy protection the site would be available. Mr Coutts was encouraged by information relayed through all the levels of local gov’t that talks were held with Algoma executives about this question and the concerns were alleviated.

“The support from MP Sheehan, MPP Romano, as well as the Mayor was very important. It gave us a lot of comfort that our issues would be resolved and there was a path forward (post CCAA) despite the fact that the property was still in CCAA protection, so it was a very important aspect of our decision-making having assurances from those individuals” said Mr Coutts.

A strong and knowledgeable workforce was also a very important criteria that allowed Sault Ste. Marie to move forward in the decision-making process.

The CEO agreed that it was a definite factor.  “You are going to need hundreds of skilled and knowledgeable workers as this is not entry level work…it’s good paying skilled jobs.” he said. “The fact that the Sault has a history with Algoma and the pipe plant (currently Tenaris)..is a big benefit.”

Once the final site is selected “we will start doing our engineering designs and drawings to determine what the site will look like and where it will be located. This will be done within the first few months of 2019 and from there we will start engaging more with the people, understanding their concerns, understanding any of the potential impacts and how we can mitigate them ” said Mr.Coutts.

After this stage, the Noront executive said they would begin the rigorous Environmental Assessment that would take many years to complete in order to satisfy both the provincial and federal governments.

Mr Coutts was also happy with the way  MPP Romano and Mayor Provenzano and its committee was able to outline to Sault Ste. Marie residents about the process and how it was to proceed and answer some of their concerns.

The Noront executive was also encouraged (when I relayed to him) the fact that MP Terry Sheehan was in Washington, not only to lobby for the lifting of the 25% steel tariffs but also to the fact that he was engaging with his American counterparts on the aspect of cooperating and supporting each other in areas of infrastructure.

When reached in Washington, Sheehan advised that he was going to “acknowledge to our American counterparts the support the Canadian Sault had for the building of the Michigan Super Lock” which would be beneficial to all industry in the Canadian and American sister cities industries including a potential ferrochrome plant to import and export its cargo.

A decision on the successful candidate city will come before the end of the year according to the Noront executive.