Putting the money they should have spent on the ROF into iron ore in the East was a mistake. They miscalculated the world prices for iron ore, and expected that investment to grow, but instead demand & prices dropped, and their profits and stock tanked.

They also did not take into account the differences between political and physical conditions in northern Ontario and both the USA and 3rd world countries. They thought a road could be built almost anywhere, and that politicians would fall over themselves to build it for them in return for the promise of jobs and contributitions (to their party, of course).

They were not far from right about the politicians - the feds certainly will always favour big businesses over small, and the provincials the same, but are floundering in a mess of financial woe, where short term political gain has trumped good economic sense (gas generation plants). We may yet see a road built first, hopefully the east-west route, as this will serve some of the communities and allow limited ore shipment. The main problem with the railway is that the conservatives hate unions, and so will not help any initiative which involves them. The Ontario Northland workers want to run and own their rail network. No way will the feds help that. The provincials are dithering in hopes someone else will do something, and would like someone to buy the assets at firesale prices and then do what is presently proposed.

In the meantime, there are several large steel and/or mining companies who might step in. That is where I am hoping this will go, as a long time owner of KWG stock.

The new gas fired process brings a very positive aspect to things. My guess is this uses a lower temperature to separate some non-useful material from the chrome & iron in the ore, rather than actually heating the metal to a liquid state, as the electric arc process does.