Cliffs' ‘world class' chromite project gets Ontario Govt.'s ardent support

Cliffs Natural Resources board approves advancing the proposed C$3.3bn project in the Ring of Fire area of Northern Ontario to the feasibility stage.

Author: Dorothy Kosich
Posted: Thursday , 10 May 2012

RENO (MINEWEB) -

Ontario's provincial government, led by Premier Dalton McGuinty, Wednesday announced its support for global iron ore miner Cliffs Natural Resources' proposal to build a Cdn$3.3 billion chromite mine, transportation corridor and processing facility in Northern Ontario's Ring of Fire.

In a news release, the government noted, "The Ring of Fire represents one of the most significant mineral regions in the province and includes the largest deposit of chromite ever discovered in North America."

The Cliffs Chromite Project is expected to have substantial benefits in the Far North, and in northern Ontario. The entire project could employ as many as 1,250 people. The McGuinty government believes the project will also generate hundreds of indirect employment opportunities for Northern Ontarians and First Nations communities.

Located 540 kilometers northeast of Thunder Bay, the Black Thor deposit is expected to yield up to 4.4 million metric tons of crude ore annually, which would be delivered to a C$1.8 billion chromite processing facility near Capreol, north of Sudbury. Cliffs Natural Resources believes it has a world-class deposit in Black Thor.

It is expected that the first 10-15 years of mine life would involve two open-pit operations with a possible transition to underground mining later on.

In addition to the mine and the smelter, Cliffs would also develop an integrated transportation system to link all project components and a ferrochrome production facility to manufacture the ferrochrome product.

The transportation system includes an airstrip, permanent all-season road, a load-out facility at the mine site to load haul trucks with concentrate, and a transload facility near or within Greenstone where concentrate would be transferred to railcars.

The final step will be to refine concentrates into ferrochrome metal for use in stainless steel manufacturing in North America and globally.

Cleveland-based Cliffs said in a news release Wednesday, "The company is satisfied and confident in naming Ontario as the future location of its intended ferrochrome processing facility."

Several communities were considered for the chromite smelter including Sudbury, Timmins, Thunder Bay and Greenstone. First Nations groups had favored a location along the Canadian National Railroad Line between the towns of Aroland and Nakina.

Sudbury was selected as the location of the facility "due to various economic and technical factors that would best support the viability and success of the overall project, including transportation logistics, labor, long mining tradition, community support and access to electrical power," said Cliffs.

Bill Boor, senior vice president-global ferroalloys for Cliffs, said, "We are very excited about the potential impact for this project for all of Northern Ontario. Assuming it goes ahead, our project has sufficient scale to justify infrastructure investments with the potential to connect remote communities with more populous municipalities, opening up the Ring of Fire to other responsible mining investments."

Before Cliffs can make a final decision on the project in its entirety, the company must receive provincial and federal environmental assessment approval, negotiate mutually acceptable agreements with First Nations communities, work with governments to address the lack of infrastructure in the Ring of Fire and complete its commercial and technical feasibility studies.

Cliffs anticipated that a majority of the project's capital requirements would occur in 2014 and 2015. The company hopes to commence production at Black Thor in 2015.

Cliffs is just one of more than 20 mining companies holding claims in the Ring of Fire, which is also believed to hold the potential for significant production of nickel, copper and platinum.