TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – The Ontario provincial government on Friday announced that it had appointed professional services firm Deloitte to help establish the development corporation that would be responsible for coordinating infrastructure in the mineral-rich Ring of Fire (RoF) region in the forbidding northern reaches of the province.

In an attempt to kick-start the development corporation - which was established last year to bring together private and public partners, including key mining companies, First Nations, and the provincial and federal governments to drive infrastructure in the remote region forward - Northern Development and Mines Minister Michael Gravelle said Deloitte would act as a neutral, third-party resource for key partners, including First Nations, the provincial and federal governments and industry.

“Deloitte will work with RoF partners to set clear paths and timelines for decision-making, create guiding principles for the development corporation, and seek consensus on the corporation's next steps,” Gravelle announced in Thunder Bay during a media briefing that was broadcast over the Internet.

“Work is also under way to help partners build a common understanding of infrastructure needs in the region. A third-party research report will examine existing infrastructure proposals and establish a common technical basis to inform decisions to maximise the economic and social potential of the RoF region,” he said.

Gravelle underlined that building infrastructure and working collaboratively with First Nations on economic development was part of the provincial government's economic plan to create jobs.

In July last year, Ontario appointed former Supreme Court of Canada justice Frank Iacobucci as the lead negotiator on behalf of Ontario to participate in discussions with the Matawa-member First Nations communities on proposed resource development in the RoF.

Gravelle said that while negotiation for a regional framework were ongoing, government would await the signal from the First Nation chiefs that they are ready before concluding an “historic agreement”.

TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE

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

It includes the largest deposit of chromite ever discovered in North America, which is a critical ingredient used to create stainless steel.

Gravelle labelled the RoF as a multigenerational economic opportunity for the province with known mineral potential worth $60-billion, which represented one of the largest known deposits in the world.

The RoF also presents an unprecedented opportunity for job creation with long-term benefits for communities in the North and the entire province.

He said there was no question that this was a significant project, which required all partners, including the private sector, First Nations, the federal government and the province - all of which had a stake and a role to play - to come to the table.

But the region, where more than 20 companies hold claims, needs infrastructure, most critically transportation infrastructure, to turn it into Canada’s newest mining camp. It is estimated that the region needs about $2.25-billion in transportation and industrial infrastructure.

Junior explorer KWG Resources, through a subsidiary, Canada Chrome Corporation, controls the key transportation route on land, which it acquired through claim staking in 2009.

KWG has proposed a rail route connecting to the CN transcontinental rail line at the Exton rail siding to transport ore to consumers, competing with its US-based joint venture partner Cliffs Natural Resources, which has proposed an all-weather road south connecting to the same rail line west of Exton. Cliffs’ plan is to transport chromite concentrate by rail to Capreol, in the Sudbury area, where it plans to build a ferrochrome production facility.

However, Cliffs in November announced that it would suspend indefinitely its $3.3-billion Black Thor chromite project, citing the uncertain timeline and risks associated with developing the necessary infrastructure to bring this project on line.

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

On Monday the Ontario Minister of the Attorney General brought a motion in the Ontario Divisional Court for leave to intervene in Cliffs’ appeal of the decision of the Ontario Mining and Lands Commissioner released last September.

“We remain committed to making a significant investment to support infrastructure needs in the region, but we need partners to come together so that decisions can be made,” Gravelle said.