This past November, Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. announced it was forever postponing its $3.3 billion project in a mineral-rich area of northern Ontario. The region, nicknamed Ring of Fire, is seen as one of the most promising Canadian mining opportunities in over a hundred years.
Cliffs had planned to extract chromite, used in the production of stainless steel, since the area contains the largest known deposit in North America.
The project was cancelled due to uncertainty about the environmental-assessment process and aboriginal groups and the Ontario government still have to set guidelines for negotiations over how to develop the Ring of Fire.
The project was cancelled due to uncertainty about the environmental-assessment process and aboriginal groups and the Ontario government still have to set guidelines for negotiations over how to develop the Ring of Fire.
Bob Rae, the formal federal Liberal party leader, is representing the nine indigenous groups in the Matawa Tribal Council and has stated that until there is more certainty around what is to be discussed, like infrastructure and resource sharing, it’s too soon to predict when the area will be mined.
Alan Coutts, CEO for Noront, is interested in mining the area and gone on record to say he would like to see an all-encompassing agreement completed that would satisfy everyone, especially the Aboriginals in the area. He has also stated that he hopes he can begin producing copper and nickel by 2018, but that is contingent on “a lot of things happening.”