Two consultants hired by the Municipality of Greenstone pick Greenstone as the perfect place to host the Ring of Fire chromite refinery.

A Sept. 20 municipal press release said a research report prepared by former provincial Energy Minister George Smitherman and Don Huff of Environmental Commutation Options concluded the Exton site, west of Nakina, as the best spot for the processing furnaces due to its rail access, power supply and environmental sustainability.

Smitherman said their analysis concludes Exton is “well positioned” with its power supply to service the proposed electric arc furnaces.

“The Exton site has the significant advantage of fitting with the territorial expectations of First Nations and is economically feasible.”

One mining company, KWG Resources, is extensively studying the costs behind running a 350-kilometre railroad from the Ring of Fire exploration camp, in the James Bay lowlands, to the Canadian National Railway's Exton junction in northwestern Ontario. The concept has support from mining giant Cliffs Natural Resources.

Huff says moving large amounts of unrefined ore past Exton for processing elsewhere is “unnecessary, costly and undercuts sustainability principles.”

Choosing the Exton location, he said, minimizes environmental impacts, contributes to project sustainability and follows the principles of area First Nations, who insist that refining must be done close to the point of extraction.

Huff said “refining the ore at Exton also saves at least $28 million per year in transportation costs.”

The consultants' power expert, Larry Doran of Imperium Energy, said a potential refinery at Exton would be the only major power user on the transmission system within a 100 kilometres, and therefore any related project costs would be lower than other possible sites in Thunder Bay, Sudbury and Timmins.

In a statement, Greenstone Mayor Ron Beaulieu said this research poses an opportunity to “build a new backbone for the economy of northwestern Ontario. It is clear that a decision to site a refinery in Greenstone will do the most to accelerate opportunity through our region.”

Beaulieu and Matawa First Nation's Ring of Fire Coordinator Raymond Ferris said they will press their case to Cliffs Natural Resources and to the federal and provincial government.