Negotiations are continuing between Noront Resources and Algoma to determine whether an agreement can be reached that would see the development of a ferrochrome facility on the steelmaker’s property.
The key now is for Noront to complete its due diligence to determine how a production facility would be situated on the Algoma property site. It also needs to determine what shared services it can cobble with Algoma and determine what the strategic advantages would be to do that.
NorOnt president and CEO Alan Coutts said both the Sault Ste. Marie and Timmins locations have really good sites and supportive municipalities. The decision will hinge on the commercial arrangement that can be negotiated with the property owners, Coutts said in a telephone interview. He said Noront has spoken to the secured creditors and that team has encouraged talks to continue with Algoma’s management team.
Similar steps have been taken in Timmins with the Glencore management group. “At this point we are putting together some engineering drawings which will allow us to theoretically locate the plant on site, which will allow us to talk to the ownership teams about specific infrastructures that we can repurpose, or share,” he said.
Technical teams are expected to visit the Sault in September to meet with Algoma’s management team, he said. Coutts said Noront is not favoring any one site at this point in time.
Mayor Christian Provenzano says he checks in with both Noront and Algoma’s executives regularly to see how discussions are going and if he can be of any assistance.
For the rest of this article: https://www.saultstar.com/news/local-news/noront-continues-research-into-sault-timmins