Ontario once more budgets a billion dollars for RoF development, as private sector takes action – by Henry Lazenby (MiningWeekly.com – April 15, 2016)

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TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – For the third consecutive year, the Liberal Ontario government has made a C$1-billion commitment toward development in the emerging Ring of Fire (RoF) nickel/chromite mining camp, in the province’s remote far north.

The RoF presented a multigenerational economic opportunity for the province, with mineral potential calculated in 2014 terms to be worth about $60-billion, although that would be much less at today’s subdued commodity prices.

The remote RoF in the McFaulds Lake area of the James Bay Lowlands – about 540 km north-east of Thunder Bay – has attracted much attention over recent years, with exploration drills turning to look for minerals, including chrome, nickel, copper and platinum-group metals.

However, there is little in terms of infrastructure to move the mines in, and bulk ores out to market. The region’s junior first movers Noront Resources and KWG Resurces were positioning themselves on what was in future set to become a dynamo of economic activity to the benefit of the region, Ontario and indeed all of Canada.
KWG Resources was just this week hosting a delegation of Chinese railway engineers from China Railway First Survey & Design Institute Group (FSDI) for consultations, with a view of potentially financing construction of a railway to link the minerals-rich area with markets.

Meanwhile Ontario has approved, with amendments, the terms of reference for an environmental assessment for the largest RoF landholder Noront Resources’ Eagle’s Nest project.

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