Noront will mine in Ring of Fire

Cliff Resources is not the only company proposing to build a mine in the Ring of Fire.
Noront Resources Ltd. announced this week that the company has taken a first step in development of a new base-metal mine in the James Bay Lowlands area.
The company has filed it’s project description for the company’s Eagle’s Nest deposit with the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency and Ontario’s Ministry of Northern Development, Mines, and Forestry.
Noront’s president Wes Hanson said in a news release that “the project description initiates the permitting process for development of the Eagle’s Nest deposit.
“This is the first step of the permitting process and establishes a starting point for future consultation regarding infrastructure and mine development of the Eagle’s Nest deposit with the local First Nation communities as well as local, provincial and federal government agencies,” he said.
Noront’s project description proposes a planned one million tonne per year underground base metal mine and mill complex which would process high-grade nickel, copper, platinum and palladium ore .
Proposed surface disturbance at the mine site will be limited to an airstrip, an accommodation, recreation and office complex, an explosive storage site, an underground portal and site roads connecting these facilities, the company said.
The mill complex will be established in underground excavations, taking advantage of the site’s host rocks and minimizing surface disturbance. Mill tailings will be stored underground and used as backfill in the voids created by mining of the nickel-copper ore and waste rock.
The mine is estimated to produce approximately 150,000 tonnes of concentrate annually, which would be pumped via a buried pipeline, about 100 kilometres due west to a proposed site named Webequie Junction., a site located 20 kilometres south of the community of Webequie First Nation.
A filtering and drying plant will be constructed at Webequie Junction to treat the concentrate, recycle the water back to the site and transfer the concentrate to trucks for shipment to a proposed CN Rail depot near Savant Lake, the report states.
A diesel generating station will be established at Webequie Junction and power will be brought to site via a new power line. Both the power line and the buried concentrate slurry pipeline will follow a winter road that is proposed between the Eagle’s Nest deposit and Webequie Junction. The winter road will limit the environmental footprint on the James Bay Lowlands, the company says.
At the end of the winter road from Eagle’s Nest to Webequie Junction, an all season road is proposed to connect Webequie Junction to Highway 808 northeast of Pickle Lake. The proposed route follows the existing winter road corridor and will be used to haul concentrate by truck to the proposed rail facility.
During operation, mine consumables will be supplied over the same route, while people and supplies will be transported to the mining site by aircraft.
According to Cliff Resources website, efforts are underway by the company to prepare a comprehensive project description of its Cliffs Chromite Project, as is required under Canadian guidelines for economic, environmental and social assessments.