A $1.8-billion ferrochrome processing facility and the 500 jobs it will create won’t be located in Sudbury if native leaders from northwestern Ontario have their way.
The chiefs of the Marten Falls and Aroland First Nations say the plant – and others like it built to process minerals from the Ring of Fire area – should be located on their territories.
It was one of a list of demands Chief Eli Moonias of Marten Falls First Nation and Chief Sonny Gagnon of Aroland First Nation made public Tuesday during a press conference in Toronto.
The two chiefs are in Toronto to monitor Ring of Fire related activity at the Prospector & Developers Association of Canada International Convention, Trade Show & Investors Exchange.
Moonias and Gagnon said native groups want a greater say in how the Ring of Fire is developed.
“Communities in the First Nations Territory are not opposed to developments such as the Ring of Fire in their territory,” Gagnon said in a release. “However, our communities are opposed to developments which do not fully involve our members in the decision-making process, which do not minimize environmental impacts and which fail to provide a future for our children, grandchildren and great grand children.”
Cliffs Natural Resources of Cleveland has said it wants to ship chromite – used to harden steel – from its Black Thor deposit in northwestern Ontario to the plant. It has identified a spot near Capreol as a possible location for the ferrochrome processing facility, which would create up to 500 jobs.
However, Cliffs is looking at other possible sites – including Timmins – but has also warned it may not locate the plant in Ontario because of the province’s high energy costs.
Cliffs said it would also create hundreds of jobs at the Black Thor mine site and processing facilities.
The company said it would cost as much as $3 billion to develop the project.
Cliffs and Noront are the main players in the Ring of Fire, but the chiefs say the companies are not properly consulting with natives on the “significant changes and challenges that their development will create.”
Among their concerns, Moonias and Gagnon say the provincial and federal governments must:
– “Acknowledge and support their position that, if Ring of Fire minerals are to be extracted within First Nation Territories, then processing/refining must occur in the territory.”
– “That Exton Siding adjacent to Aroland First Nation is the preferred location for the refining smelter. This location is also supported by the Municipality of Greenstone (which is) working cooperatively with First Nations. The First Nations believe that this option should be assessed within the environmental assessment process.
– “Work with the communities to develop a road corridor to the Ring of Fire in accordance with the road alignment study and planning initiative advanced by Marten Falls before the Ring of Fire existed. This route would eliminate a bridge over the Ogoki River, avoiding passage through a provincial waterway park, and supply community benefits.
– “Support Matawa communities and other First Nations in their initiative to build and own a North-South power line along the east side of Lake Nipigon. This will supply power to the refinery and ensure connection of the remote communities to the electricity grid.”
In addition, the chiefs want:
– a negotiated joint environmental review process for both the Cliffs and Noront projects. “This will ensure that the environmental assessment is not fast-tracked like the tar sands project in Alberta”; and
– “adequate attention … paid to the environment, to minimize the impact of development on the communities and the territory.”