TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Ring of Fire- (RoF-) focused chromite project developer KWG Resources on Monday reported that the Ontario Minister of the Attorney General would bring a motion in the Ontario Divisional Court for leave to intervene in diversified miner Cliffs Natural Resources’ appeal of the decision of the Ontario Mining and Lands Commissioner released last September.

Cliffs had last year become embroiled in a legal battle for access to mining claims held by KWG in the RoF, over which the only viable access route to the chromite deposits could be constructed.

While KWG proposed a rail route connecting at Exton to transport chromite to consumers, Cliffs proposes an all-weather road south, connecting with existing infrastructure to Capreol, in the Sudbury area, where it had proposed to build a chromite beneficiation facility.

The battle over a much-sought after corridor played itself out last year in front of the Ontario Mining and Land Commissioner, which, in the end, denied Cliffs access to KWG Resources’ staked mining claims to construct its proposed road. Despite Cliffs appealing the decision, it had suspended operations in the area, citing, among other reasons, uncertainty about developing the necessary infrastructure to bring its project on line.

The motion for leave would be heard on April 28, and the hearing of the appeal had now been scheduled for June 16 and 17.

TSX-V-listed juniors Bold Ventures and KWG early last month reported that KWG would fund a C$2-million drilling programme under its earn-in agreement with Bold on the Black Horse project in the RoF.

Using a 20% cutoff, the Black Horse project currently holds an inferred resource of 46.5-million tons at a grade of 38.8%. By comparison,Cliffs Natural Resources’ Big Daddy deposit – in which KWG has a 30% stake – has a resource of 32-million tons at a grade of 31%, using a 20% cutoff.

Cliffs, which had in November announced the indefinite suspension of its $3.3-billion Black Thor project, had also affirmed that it continued to believe in the value of the mineral deposits, which the federal government had estimated to top C$65-billion, and the potential of the RoF.

It had been estimated that the RoF region would need about $2.25-billion in transportation and industrial infrastructure investment to be able to develop into Canada’s newest mining camp.