The Klondike Gold Rush is undoubtedly the most storied chapter in Canadian mining history. Tens of thousands of prospectors migrated to western Yukon in the 1890s after news of a massive gold discovery in the Klondike region hit economic hubs such as Seattle and San Francisco. Rich deposits did make some of those prospectors wealthy men, but most left the Klondike just as poor as when they came in, if not poorer.Today’s interest in northern Ontario’s Ring of Fire is similar in some ways. Again there’s a frenzy over mineral riches in a remote area of Canada. And, as in the great gold rush of yore, it’s largely over one mineral – in this case, chromite. But that’s where the similarities more or less end.
For one thing, the word “rush” seems out-of-place in today’s regulated mining sector. Anyone who wants to start mining at a particular site has regulatory hurdles to overcome and communities to consult. Getting from the idea of a mine to an actual mine is a challenging, years-long process.
Still, there are many companies willing to endure that process in order to tap into the apparently great mineral wealth beneath the Ring of Fire’s surface of wetlands, rocks and trees. There are, after all, riches below the surface and considerable profits to be made.
The Ring
The Ring of Fire is a crescent-shaped area approximately 500 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay, in the James Bay lowlands north of the Albany River. The Attawapiskat River runs through some of it. Predominantly muskeg, the Ring is more than 5,100 sq. km of land hitherto untouched by industry. Wildlife in the region includes some species at risk – black terns, bald eagles, wolverines and woodland caribou among them. Muskeg, birds and furry mammals aren’t what make the area so intriguing to miners, of course. The big attraction in this case is chromite, a dark iron chromium oxide that’s valued for its resistance to high temperatures. Chromite is a key ingredient in the stainless steel that our pots and pans are made of. It’s also commonly used for protective coating of automobile parts. There is at present no chromite mine in North America.The sizable chromite deposits are vestiges of geological events that occurred 2.7 billion years ago. Magma containing chromium rose from the Earth’s mantle and dissolved iron-rich rock in the crust. The result was crystallized chromite. The same thing, more or less, happened in many places on our planet, but for some reason it left especially rich deposits of chromite in the Ring of Fire.
Early in the current century, De Beers Canada (which operates the Victor Diamond Mine to the east) found significant copper and zinc deposits there. Subsequent exploration uncovered chromite deposits that rival those at any location in South Africa, the world’s leading producer. Other minerals were also found, including nickel, gold and platinum-group metals. Because it was a somewhat ring-shaped “hot” exploration region, and (some say) because a key player was a Johnny Cash fan, it was dubbed the Ring of Fire.
The Ontario government said in May 2012 that Ohio-based Cliffs Natural Resources is expected to spend more than $3 billion on getting chromite out of the Ring and to market. That sum includes $1.85 billion for a processing facility in Sudbury. “This is very, very important, not only for Sudbury but for the entire province,” then-Minister of Northern Development and Mines Rick Bartolucci said at a news conference in the nickel city.
Other companies are also keen on getting a piece of the Ring. Toronto-headquartered Noront Resources is focused on developing its Eagle’s Nest nickel-copper-PGM project in the area, as well as a high-grade chromite deposit dubbed Blackbird. Bold Ventures, also out of Toronto, has reached an agreement with KWG Resources under which Bold will operate exploration at Koper Lake and KWG will fund the exploration. Dozens of other companies have staked thousands of claims.
But the odyssey from exploration to mining won’t be smooth sailing. Environmentalists, politicians and aboriginal groups have all expressed concern over mining companies’ Ring ambitions.
Challenges
Indeed, opposition politicians were quick to pounce on the fact that Bartolucci’s Sudbury news conference had no First Nations representation. “If First Nations aren’t part of (development), it won’t be happening,” Norm Miller, MPP for Parry Sound-Muskoka, told the Toronto Star. “You could also ask why was the federal government not part of (the news conference). There are federal and provincial reviews. There are still a lot of challenges going forward … despite it sounding like the ground was being broken today.”Noting that the all-weather road Cliffs wants to build from the town of Nakina to its Black Thor (McFaulds Lake) project would run through sensitive wildlands, a leading conservation group said the plan lacked proper assessment of environmental impacts. “The most important decision is the location of infrastructure. Where, how much, and what? These are questions we needed Ontario to ask,” said Janet Sumner of CPAWS Wildland League.
Communities in the Ring of Fire’s vicinity include Webequie and Nibinamik (Summer Beaver) First Nations to the west, Marten Falls First Nation to the south, and Neskantaga First Nation to the southwest. All are members of Matawa First Nations, and they are remote reserves lacking road access. In January 2011 Matawa named Raymond Ferris, former chief of Constance Lake First Nation, as its Ring of Fire Coordinator responsible for seeing that member communities participate in and benefit from Ring development.
First Nations see mining as a provider of jobs and development in reserves with extremely high unemployment and vexing social problems that include high rates of drug addiction and youth suicide. They also recognize the social benefit of a road finally connecting them to the outside world, and for that reason Marten Falls wants the road rerouted to hook up with its 300 residents.
But Matawa First Nations are also concerned about water pollution and other impacts on the area’s ecology. “We know we’re going to get some benefits once they start development,” Marten Falls Chief Eli Moonias told the Canadian Press last year. “We know that in some ways we’ll be involved as well. The issue is the environment.”
Moonias said a road connection could help Marten Falls improve its drinking-water situation by enabling easier access for experts and suppliers who could help fix the reserve’s water-quality problems. Marten Falls’ drinking-water supply is in need of major repair.
The Province signalled its keen interest in seeing development move forward by creating a Ring of Fire Secretariat within the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines. The federal government has designated Treasury Board President Tony Clement as its point man for progress in the area.
Cliffs aims to begin production at the Black Thor deposit by late 2016 even though the company’s President and CEO, Joseph Carrabba, told analysts last October that cost pressures and other factors could push the start to 2017.
“Right now, the target remains 2016 and it’s a schedule that’s got some risk of slippage,” Cliffs Senior Vice-President Bill Boor told a Sudbury Chamber of Commerce luncheon audience in early November.
Factors that could delay production include environmental assessment processes and trying to reach working agreements with First Nations. Boor said discussions with First Nations are progressing but “we need to move the relationship to the point where they’re willing to work with us in this project. We’re not asking them to agree with the project. We’re asking them to work with us to figure it out. And we do need a bit of breakthrough there.”
In an email to this author, Cliffs Public Affairs Representative Jennifer Mihalcin said the company must “finalize a definitive deal” with Ontario before it can begin the construction phase of its ferrochrome project. Although that deal was not yet done as of March 2013, and despite the political uncertainties associated with an impending provincial election, she reiterated the company’s expectation that Black Thor operations will “commence at the end of 2016.”
In an interview with the Financial Post, Noront’s then-CEO Wes Hanson said Noront could conceivably begin commercial production at Eagle’s Nest by 2016 or 2017. He said Noront would use the road Cliffs wants built and pay for road use in proportion to how much freight it hauls down the route. He explained that Noront was planning to produce 150,000 tonnes of concentrate annually while Cliffs was planning to produce about 20 times as much.
In short, there’s still much work to be done before anyone gets rich on the Ring of Fire.
