"This is the position of someone who hasn't looked closely at the logistics of shipping chromite"

Your assumption is incorrect..but perhaps my opinion was not properly stated. The delay was about a "road" but in reality as you have properly outlined the absurd prospect of moving chromite via a road as opposed to a rail line. Don't for one minute believe that the master plan that Cliffs and the Libs concocted was for a road for extraction of chromite but perhaps a northern road to get the needed machinery to the chromite location for mine stucture and equipment for building of the rail southward on the same path while the mine(s) were being developed. This perhaps would have brought in the Feds with financing.

The legality or illegality of circumventing KWG claims would certainly come into play and I do not dispute that fact. You may recall as well that KWG's rightful challenge to the easement was only triggered by the fact that Frank felt that the offer from Cliffs for the easement was vastly undervalued. Had Cliffs and KWG come to an agreed price, the ROF would be in a much different progress status than we find ourselves today.