https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/
Two northern cities now squaring off to lure billion dollar investment
Two small northern cities, one billion-dollar investment. That’s how mayors from Sault Ste. Marie and TImmins are looking at it, after mining giant Noront Resources announced the location of its proposed ferrochrome smelter would be one of the two cities.
Earlier in July, Sudbury and Thunder Bay were eliminated from the hunt. Timmins Mayor Steve Black is confident his city shows well. The proposed location is the Kidd Metallurgical Site, an active site currently used for concentrate.
He also understands what his city has to gain if Noront selects Timmins. “I think everyone has made it aware that it’s a game changer,” Black told CBC’s Up North. “It’s several hundred jobs for several decades ahead.”
Black said his community is generally supportive of the bid, and may not encounter the same protests from citizens that Sudbury did. Various groups in Sudbury voiced their concerns about pollution and water contamination, as well as the proximity of the smelter to the nearby community of Coniston.
“Our site is still an active concentrator on site, so there’s more acceptance in the community to have it used in the mining and milling, processing industry,” Black said. Black also said Noront could save some capital dollars by using existing infrastructure after Kidd closes down.
For the rest of this article: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/sault-timmins-mayors-smelter-1.4752336