there is nothing to date from either the province of Ontario or Federally indicating which direction the main artery would go to access the vastness of the Ring of Fire region. What is happening is support coming from some northern municipalities which supports their regional and local economic interests. This is what I know to be true which supports the N-S corridor. Chromite, the most significant potential is extremely expensive to transport and will follow the shortest distance to a refinery (which is likely going to be south of the mining areas or to the east). Transporting this ore west to go east just makes no sense. The access to the RoF will not just be a road but likely a multi-corridor providing a transportation route (road or rail probably best determined by industry), power, and potentially broadband. The Mattawa First Nations have a tremendous amount of influence in the mining developments expected to occur in their regions and native lands. The negotiations of (Impact Benefit) agreements are not finalized although a framework agreement was successfully negotiated last fall. There is not only support, but tremendous influence from the Mattawa FN to see benefits to their region which is very marginalized with any east-west consideration. I have been in public forums where reps from Cliffs, NorOnt and KWG have said publicly, they are not opposed to a N-S corridor. Because NorOnt is further along in it's business case, they are supportive of an east-west link using some existing roads which brings their product out to Pickle Lake. Having said that, the world's largest world-class chromite find is where the significant economic potential lies because of it's shear magnitude. While the RoF holds much promise as far as mineral wealth, industry needs to be partnered with government to reach an understanding and commit to the infastructure which best suits the needs of the developers, the First Nations and funding partners. This is the basis for the creation of the Business Development Corporation announced by the Liberal government last year and headed up under MPP Gravelle.... a portfolio which he continues to hold under the re-election of the Liberals. Stay tuned......... I say it'll go North-South as illustrated.
