Access to Ontario’s Ring of Fire a complex issue

1 of 2Noront Resources has a 70-person capacity camp in Ontario's Ring of Fire, where the company holds nickel, copper and chromite resources. — Photo courtesy of Noront Resources

2 of 2Noront Resources has the only active development in the Ring of Fire. Photo courtesy of Noront Resources. — Photo courtesy of Noront Resources

The Northern Policy Institute (NPI), a think tank formed in 2013 to research and assess major issues in Ontario’s northern region, has completed a research study that addresses important questions about what most say is the biggest issue facing development of Ontario’s Ring of Fire: infrastructure.

The 5,000-square-kilometre area located 400 kilometres north of Thunder Bay has been explored by nearly 40 mining and exploration companies that have identified a number of deposits, including a major chromite deposit that experts say could generate $25 billion in economic activity over the next 30 years and bring centuries worth of operation to the region.

In 2012, Cliffs Natural Resources proposed a $3.3-billion plan for a chromite operation and a transportation corridor to the deposit; however, the company put its plan on hold indefinitely last year because the road crossed mining claims owned by KWG Resources, Inc, which has land staked for a railway to the deposit. Although Cliffs and the Ontario government agree a road would benefit First Nations communities in the north, Ontario’s commissioner wouldn’t grant the company an easement, citing the road plan’s lack of a public component.

Charles Cirtwell, president of NPI, said the question of infrastructure is about more than what to build and where—researchers must consider the issues decision makers need to examine when making the decision.

“We ask, on what criteria do you make the choice?” he said. “I’ve heard (former Canadian politician) Bob Rae talk about investment in infrastructure there, not for accessing the resource, but as a way of meeting an obligation we have as a society to those communities. So those are the questions we need to ask.”

In March, the Ontario government signed a framework agreement with First Nations in the area—an important first step that allows the two sides to move forward in negotiations for revenue
sharing and community development.

Although it is hoping to engage First Nations in co-operation of various priorities including environmental monitoring and infrastructure, some warn that dealing with the communities, which have never experienced any type of economic development, may be a slow-moving process.

At a talk in Timmins, Ontario, Cirtwell said an important challenge is managing expectations, getting a realistic view of how long development will take, and evaluating who will actually benefit at various stages of development.

“We need to talk about what are we building for the infrastructure, what are the opportunities if we build a rail line, which communities can that service, and which communities can it potentially negatively affect,” he said.

Cirtwell said he visited Pickle Lake and spoke with individuals who expressed concern about all-season access to the area because the supply bases running out of the small community may be threatened economically.

“We really need to have those discussions,” he said.

On May 2, an election was called in Ontario, which has two of the provinces major political parties making $1 billion promises to invest in Ring of Fire infrastructure.

Earlier that month, the Liberal government announced a $1 billion commitment to infrastructure in the Ring of Fire and called on the federal government to match it. So far, Ottawa has not made any commitments.

The provincial Conservative candidate in Ontario has vowed to develop the Ring of Fire and associated infrastructure in a private-public partnership (P3) that would enlist private investment and federal support.

The NPI will release its research report on the Ring of Fire, which mainly deals with issues such as road access versus rail access to the mining region, in June.