An interesting excerpt from the Mining Watch... (January 25, 2011.)

http://www.miningwatch.ca/sites/miningwatch.ca/files/chromite%20economic%20analysis.pdf

(page 11)

"Rail-line

In order to access the chromite deposits in the Ring of Fire, a 340 km rail-line will have to be built from Nakina to the site. KWG has already claim-staked the rail-bed along a conveniently located esker, although mining claims should not constitute a rail right of way. The companies have hired consulting firm Krech Ojard & Associates to do a technical study of the proposed rail line. Since the location is an enormous swamp, crossed by a number of major rivers, the engineering will be complicated and construction costly.

Ontario Northland Transportation Commission –with considerable experience in the region – has expressed strong interest in the rail line. The ONTC maintains 1100 kilometres of track from North Bay to Moosonee and from Calstock to Hearst. They’ve built spurs in the past to mines in northeastern Ontario 37 The company is losing $7-9 million in freight with the closure of the Kidd Met smelter in Timmins. When ONTC built a new spur into the Agrium phosphate mine near Kapuskasing in 1999 – more than a decade ago - the cost per kilometre was about $1 million.

They say that adding a major bridge can cost as much as an entire section of new track.

Doing structural work on their quarter-mile-long bridge spanning the Moose River will cost between $18 million -$20 million over five years.

Recently, Consolidated Thompson Mines had to strengthen an existing 500 km rail line from Wabush, Labrador to the St. Lawrence and build an additional 31 kilometre line to their new iron mine. Capital costs for only the rail upgrades came in at over $176 million (almost double the original estimate). In addition they anticipate an operating cost for rail transport of $11.87 per tonne mined. In December 2010, heavy rains washed out sections of the railbed which took more than two weeks to repair.

It should be noted that since Cliffs Natural Resources purchased Consolidated Thompson on January 11, 2011, for $4.5 billion, they now own a railway company. BL Railway, which operates in Newfoundland and Labrador was created by Consolidated Thompson in 2008."