These statements are not positive for Noront or any other ROF company.

"Franco-Nevada Corp. chief executive officer and president David Harquail is "absolutely convinced" a mine will be built in the Ring of Fire, but realistic enough to believe it may be a future CEO who benefits from it.

Right now, we're in a low ebb, it's going to be really hard. Even if the governments were totally behind it, industry right now would probably not be able to finance it," he said of the Ring of Fire's chromite, nickel and other metal deposits.

To move development of the Ring forward, government, first nations and industry must be involved in discussions "so when the commodity cycle is back up, then we can have all the agreements together."

Harquail said his company in involved with deposits discovered in 1963 that are still a couple of years away from production"