"Back in 2015, Noront's acquisition of Cliffs Natural Resources' Ring of Fire chromite assets for a bargain-basement $US20 million came with a big technology bonus.

Cliffs had already spent $100 million building a pilot plant in Falconbridge, Ont. that produced the first-ever Canadian ferrochrome in 2011.

A news release was issued about this accomplishment but seems to have been entirely missed by media outlets.

Initial test conditions in the Falconbridge demonstration facility were considered less than ideal, but small-scale ferrochrome smelting in the 350 kilowatt DC electric arc pilot furnace continued as recently as last year.

Having acquired this technological treasure-trove for a fraction of its worth gives Noront a head start.

"When we acquired the assets of Cliff's Natural Resources, we got the benefit of their engineering and [research and development] and their pilot work," Flewelling said during his City Council presentation on Oct. 22.

"We're building up on that piece of work. That's what got the design where it is today," Flewelling said.

"Cliff's did that once already and we would intend to do it again to make sure, because there's been some nuances or changes. There's different ore sources and work we would have to re-do."

"It isn't that there's a lot of brand-new stuff. What there is a collection of appropriate things that come together," Flewelling said.

Hatch Engineering, which is helping with project management and engineering as an equity partner in Noront's Ring of Fire initiative, will now tie up Cliffs' loose ends and shape them into a more advanced smelter design.

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XPS Testwork and Consulting Services  Mr. Frank Winter of American Metal Sales, Jay Turner of Pope and Company, Matt Cramer (Hatch Associates) and Dr. Nick Dawson of Glencore Alloys all worked with CLIFFS AND KWG

And now Matt Cramer(Hatch ) with Noront

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But it gets more interesting....Flewelling talking about this..slag..

"We capture the dust from the furnace and the DC electric arc furnace technology allows us to recycle all the furnace dust – versus putting them in the disposal pond – back into the furnaces. So you have a recycle system. In addition, we recycle the incomplete combustion carbon monoxide, and that's a heat source for warming up the material, which makes the overall process more energy-efficient."

"We have a very, very complicated but very state-of-the-art application. There's no other plants like this. This would be the first application of this suite of technologies in the world."

"What that allows us also to do is to make the slag byproduct inert from chrome materials. We believe it'll be saleable just like the slag is today from Algoma."

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Back in 2017.. notice Matt, Cramer(Hatch), RING OF FIRE, Outokumpu

and the slag, dust stuff.. see link below OUTOKUMPU-RING OF FIRE

http://www.environmentnorth.ca/assets/files/2017BeukesetalReviewofCrVIenvironmentalpracticesinthechromiteminingandmeltingindustryeRelevancetodevelopmentoftheRingofFireCanada.pdf

And look below... sounds familar .. like the stuff Noront's Flewelling is talking about