Regarding the N/S road....a few things to consider; in my opinion:

1) The longer it takes to get a committment on the E/W road, the greater the certainty of a N/S road.  I believe Marten Falls could not wish for anything better; the enormous business opportunities that will bring

2) The N/S route is a little more complicated; in a sense that KWG may have some ownership rights to the surface rights or something along that thinking....a court battle, which began with Cliffs and KWG; now NOT inheriting that battle.  I don't believe that any decision has been made with respect to that....please correct my if I am wrong on that point.

3) Another complication is that; although NOT controls 85% of the claims, they do not control them all.  PRB has a chrome deposit, as does the KWG/Bold/FNC joint venture...maybe BMK still controls a bit as well.   

So...let's say the N/S road becomes a certainty.  What is to stop PRB; with the backing of say...Goldcorp (who own a position in PRB)....Or someone else backing the KWG joint venture.  I think the governments; provincial and federal; are hard pressed to make a decision that may favor one company over another...at this point anyways.

Notice when the province put up the $billion....it was only when a larger player was involved (that being Cliffs); and that since Cliffs is now gone, there does not appar to be any company left that can realistically make this a reality.  Certainly not at this point, when the largest player in the area can't maintain a market cap of $100 million.  Notice...very little talk about that $1 billion anymore.

Several things need to happen...again....my opinion

First....Norton needs to consolidate those claims for which it does not control

Second...either Noront's market cap really goes up....like literally in the 1000's of % or they will need a partner with deep pockets.  Base metal companies in general have not performed well for a very long time...so not much money there.  Some gold companies and iron ore companies are beginning to do well again...so maybe a large player in that space could diversify.

Regardless...I believe that there remains a few twists and turns along the way before this becomes a reality.