Ring of Fire for people, not ‘American war machine’

One of the issues being discussed in the current election is the potential development of the Ring of Fire chromite-nickel deposits recently discovered in Northern Ontario. Each of the cartel parties is supporting this development and blaming one another and other levels of government for the perceived delay.

Even after Cliffs Natural Resources cancelled its plans to build a mine, beneficiation plant and refinery, the cartel parties are competing amongst themselves as to who can give away the most public resources to the foreign mining monopolies that have seized control of this project.

The Ring of Fire is said to possess more than $100 billion in mineral resources. The cartel parties see this as a huge bonanza, an opportunity for Ontario to get out of crisis. The relevance of the Ring of Fire to the Sudbury by-election is that the chromite refinery was to be built north of Capreol, in the City of Greater Sudbury, and that Sudbury-based mining supply companies seek to use the development of the Ring of Fire as part of their expansion in the global mining industry.

The development of an inorganic resource such as chromite — from extraction to processing to its manufacture into finished goods — can only take place once. Finished products can be recycled, but this will not assist to develop a long-term viable industry in the region if the products are exported and recycled elsewhere. An inorganic resource is limited and once exported cannot support further generations of workers.

This is unlike the development of organic resources such as forests, farms and fisheries. In the case of those endeavours, with careful husbandry, crops can be taken year after year, and an economic base can be developed that will support generations.

The fact that mineral ores can only be developed once means that it is vital for the Ring of Fire to be developed right, and not necessarily quickly, if the people of Northern Ontario are to reap any economic benefit from the development.

What does it mean to develop the Ring of Fire right?

First, none of the cartel parties that are so eager to develop the Ring of Fire mention that chromium is a strategic materiel and that the development of the Ring of Fire serves the interests of the American war machine.

Chromium is vital in producing stainless steels and superalloys which have significant military applications including armour and jet engines. There is no commercially viable source of chromium in the Americas and the main producing countries (Kazakhstan, India and Zimbabwe) are not securely in the U.S. zone of control. The establishment of a large-scale chromium production facility in the Ring of Fire and Northern Ontario solves this supply problem for the U.S. imperialists and facilitates their ability to wage a protracted war.

The alternative is to develop the Ring of Fire in the service of civilian production to meet the material needs of people in the course of their daily lives.

Second, the lands on which the Ring of Fire lie and the lands needed to access these mineral riches are the traditional territories of several First Nations. The First Nations in this part of Northern Ontario are isolated and suffer numerous social and economic difficulties as the old traditional economic base and social structure has been displaced.

The mineral riches of the Ring of Fire provide an opportunity for First Nations to find a path to economic renewal but their rights must be respected. There can be no legitimate economic development of the Ring of Fire without the informed consent of the Native peoples of the area. This includes the right of the First Nations to veto the development if they do not believe that it is in their interests.

Third, the Ring of Fire must be developed in harmony with the natural environment. The development of the Ring of Fire opens up access to a huge area totalling half of the landmass of the province. This land consists of sub-arctic tundra transitioning to pine forests. It is environmentally sensitive and the construction of mines and transportation facilities, as well as the release of oil and chemicals into the environment, constitute a long-term risk to the environment.

Fourth, the workers of Northern Ontario, especially those in the small towns and isolated communities in which so much of this economic activity will take place must also have their rights and interests protected. This not only includes establishing Canadian standard wages, benefits, pensions and health, education and social services, but also finding ways to ensure the long-term viability of these communities once the Ring of Fire is played out.

This necessitates long-term planning to ensure that some of the benefits arising from the Ring of Fire are used to establish new, sustainable industries in the area that will support the population.

All of these are political questions of who decides what is to be done and why and who this project favours. In order for the people of Northern Ontario to ensure that the Ring of Fire is developed in the interests of the people of Northern Ontario, Canada and indeed the world, the people of Northern Ontario must become the decision-makers.

A good start is to reject the rotten cartel party system that excludes them from having any say!