thanks for posting the article Ringer. Another plug for Timmins..

"McDonald added that if Noront Resources picks Timmins as the site to host its smelter instead of Sault Ste. Marie, the ONTC “would play an incredible role on the rail side of things”.

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from the past,

Mushkegowuk council and City of Timmins have an MOU

https://timmins.civicweb.net/document/23753

The article below from over 3 years ago is still on my mind,

http://www.kapuskasingtimes.com/2015/02/10/onr-takeover-still-being-pursued

Mushkegowuk Grand Chief Lawrence Martin says the chiefs and Elders who gathered in Kashechewan last week agreed to the idea of taking over Ontario Northland Railway and extending rail service to the Ring of Fire.

Along with that, Martin said he wants Timmins to be included in the venture with that city becoming the site of a new chromite ore refinery.

Timmins Mayor Steve Black said he supports the Mushkegowuk initiative.......

........He said even if Ontario Northland is not sold, that does not mean that Mushkegowuk cannot expand rail service beyond Moosonee, which is the northern terminus of the ONR. He said Mushkegowuk is ready to work with TGR Rail Canada Ltd. to build a new rail link, connecting coastal communities and then to the Ring of Fire mining project.

“So what if the province kept the rail system up to Moosonee? And what if we went into a partnership with TGR Rail and provide the extension from Moosonee to the Ring of Fire? That option is still open,” said Martin.

He said community leaders would welcome a new rail link as a means to bring in cheaper housing supplies, cheaper foodstuffs as well as a direct link for people wanting to travel south for things like education and health appointments.

“It would be interesting to see what would the commitment be from the province if we were to explore that scenario. They would still need to upgrade the rail system from Moosonee to North Bay, or Moosonee to wherever we would take the ore to. We’re talking about a bigger rail system, using 135-pound rail,” he explained, adding that heavier rail would be needed to transport chromite ore.

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http://www.sudburyminingsolutions.com/cheap-quebec-power-proposed-for-ring-of-fire.html

The idea is still in the very earliest stage of development, and hinges on importing cheap electricity from Quebec on a First Nation-owned grid free from having to charge Ontario’s much higher regulated electricity rates.

Three of the Mushkegowuk Council’s member First Nations are already in the electrical transmission business as owners of Five Nations Energy Inc.’s 270-kilometre Western James Bay Transmission Line, which runs from Moosonee to Attawapiskat and supplies energy to De Beers’ Victor Mine.

The proposed infrastructure corridor would include a seasonal seaport on James Bay, a transmission line to the Ring of Fire and an electrified rail line.

The transmission line would also be extended to supply electricity to the isolated Matawa First Nations most immediately affected by the Ring of Fire development and currently dependent on diesel power.

http://resourceclips.com/2016/05/12/not-so-radical-electrified-rail/

.....The CN and CP mainlines coast to coast, along with branches to Detroit and Sarnia, carry about 80% of the revenue tonnage and correspondingly consume 80% of the fuel,” Fisher stated. “On this basis, a realizable reduction in CO2 equivalent of 5.2 million tonnes could be achieved by electrifying 24,800 kilometres of freight mainline track. But that’s not all.”

Electric fuel would also cut air pollution from nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, sulphur oxides and particulate matter, he added. And electric trains would be an awful lot quieter, shushing locomotives by as much as 30 decibels, and eliminating idling noise and cooling fan noise. Gone too would be the risk of spills from fuel or lubricating oil.

.......

Canada has done it before, and not just with passenger traffic in the more populous southern climes. Between 1984 and 2000, B.C. Rail (since taken over by CN) hauled coal over a 130-kilometre electric rail line from Tumbler Ridge. At 55 degrees latitude, the Peace River town was one of Canada’s most northerly rail destinations.

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Consider too an expanded grid bringing hydro-generated and other clean electricity to remote, diesel-dependent communities and resource projects (assuming Leap allows the latter). Consider the clean energy projects some of those communities could develop for the grid. Consider a huge green infrastructure project that shrinks Canada’s carbon footprint

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So why can’t Ottawa support an immense, nationwide green infrastructure program that benefits the environment and local economies as well as a politically-connected Quebec corporation?