The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.
“It’s a very high-quality chromite, which is a very important strategic metal,”
said Stan Sudol, a communications consultant and blogger at republicofmining.com.
“There are no substitutes for it. And there are only three major countries in the
world that produce it: South Africa, Kazakhstan and India.” … The trillion-dollar
Sudbury Basin is by far Canada’s biggest resource discovered to date, having
yielded base metals for more than 100 years, Mr. Sudol said. (Financial Post)
The government of Ontario took a big step toward unearthing the geological treasures of the province’s Far North in announcing an investment to develop the first mine in the mineral-rich Ring of Fire.
Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. plans to invest $3.3-billion to establish a chromite mine west of James Bay and build a $1.8-billion smelter near Sudbury, the province said Wednesday.
And since the Ring of Fire is inaccessible by road or rail, hundreds of kilometres of new all-season road will be built to truck the ore south.
Improving access to Ontario’s northern expanses could lead to the discovery of additional base-metal deposits with immense economic potential.
“I think this opens it up significantly,” said Allan O’Dette, president of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce. “This could represent, arguably, the single most important moment in time to putting the North on a sustainable path for the next 50 to 100 years.”
The Cliffs plan seeks to exploit North America’s largest discovered deposit of chromite, a key component of stainless steel.
“It’s a very high-quality chromite, which is a very important strategic metal,” said Stan Sudol, a communications consultant and blogger at republicofmining.com. “There are no substitutes for it. And there are only three major countries in the world that produce it: South Africa, Kazakhstan and India.”
Five years after the discovery of Ring of Fire deposits, Cliffs plans to move aggressively toward production, with most capital spending expected in 2014 and 2015.
Once in operation, the mine will have a “multi-generational” lifespan, Mr. Sudol said. The Ring of Fire’s economic potential could ultimately place it among Canada’s premier mining resources.
The trillion-dollar Sudbury Basin is by far Canada’s biggest resource discovered to date, having yielded base metals for more than 100 years, Mr. Sudol said.
The enormous Abitibi Greenstone Belt, spanning northern Ontario and Quebec, is one of the world’s most prolific gold- and base-metal bearing areas.
“The Ring of Fire ranks up there,” he said.
The new infrastructure could also facilitate other discoveries in the Far North, a region more than four times the geographical size of southern Ontario, by the provincial government’s boundaries.
Once infrastructure is built into the Ring of Fire, it brings down exploration costs,” Mr. Sudol said. “It’s extraordinarily expensive right now to fly drilling rigs and people up there.”
The Ring of Fire merely “scratches the surface,” he said. “We have no idea what’s up there. But it looks incredibly promising.”
That’s just what’s needed for a province strained by erosion of its manufacturing base.
“Ontario is blessed with an abundance of natural resources at a time in history when the world is developing faster than ever and demanding these resources,” said Rick Bartolucci, minister of northern development and mines.
The investment will create jobs for 1,200 aboriginal people, Finance Minister Dwight Duncan said.
For the rest of this article, please go to the National Post website: http://business.financialpost.com/2012/05/09/ontario-moves-to-open-up-far-north-with-5-1-billion-chromite-deal/