No Ferrochrome Sudbury plans protest – by Staff (Sudbury Star – June 26, 2018)

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A group opposed to a $1-billion ferrochrome plant in Sudbury that could create as many at 1,000 direct and indirect jobs is planning a protest for Tuesday.

Members of No Ferrochrome Sudbury said in a release they will hold an information protest at the boat launch on the Wahnapitae River, across the street from the Wahnapitae Community Centre on Glenbower Crescent near Highway 17. The protest will begin at 10 a.m.

“The event is to raise awareness about the potential for hexavalent chromium to contaminate the City of Greater Sudbury’s water treatment facility on the Wahnapitae River,” No Ferrochrome Sudbury said. “This treatment facility provides drinking water to 60 per cent of the city’s population, including New Sudbury, Garson, Coniston and Wahnapitae.”

The protest comes as Noront Resources is considering which of four Northern Ontario communities to locate its plant, which would process chromite ore from the Ring of Fire in northwestern Ontario.

Noront wants to build a ferrochrome smelter to process material from the Ring of Fire. Sudbury, Timmins, Sault Ste. Marie and Thunder Bay are all in the running for the smelter, which would create up to 350 direct and indirect jobs. The company is expected to make a decision later this year.

If Sudbury is selected, the plant would be located on a former Vale site in Coniston. A city delegation to a ferrochrome production facility in Tornio, Finland, concluded such a plant in Sudbury would be safe for workers and the environment.

Mining columnist Stan Sudol, who manages the Republic of Mining website (republicofmining.com) and works as a communications consultant for the mining industry, has praised the project, and has argued Sudbury would be the ideal location for it.

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