Ring Of Fire Mining Developing Nicely
by Scott A. Sumner
www.thunderbaybusiness.ca
For his first public appearance of 2011 Michael Gravelle Minister Of Northern Development Forestry and Mines spoke to the Port Arthur Rotary club at a luncheon January 4th.
“ We have some real progress in terms of setting up the Ring of Fire secretariat and are in the process of recruiting a director for the Aboriginal Stake Holder Relations which will be a day to day job here in Thunder Bay. The companies are expected to bring forward their planning details quite soon which is significant to this project moving forward. They will bring forward their base case in terms of their infrastructure,” said Michael Gravelle. “ There still seems to be support to bring this project forward under a very ambitious time line, but it needs to be managed in a careful fashion including the First Nations, companies and communities that are looking at the opportunities.”
A topic of discussion at the event was where the processing of the minerals would take place. “ We want the processing to happen in Ontario. There are several sites that the companies are looking at for a processing plant. As the Minister our priority is that the processing takes place firstly in the Province of Ontario and secondly in Northern Ontario. Some locations make more sense than others based on infrastructure. The Northern Industrial Energy Rate and our low tax rates are important factors as well. We want the benefits to come to all parts of Northern Ontario,” said Michael Gravelle. “ I work hard to represent my riding but as Minister I advocate for Northern Ontario as a whole. There is a challenge as MPP and Minister but I feel if the benefits come to Northern Ontario they will come to my riding as well. The companies are working forward to present their base case as to where they want their operations. We are committed to see the greatest value added opportunities come to Ontario, the bulk of which will come to Northern Ontario.”
On hand at the event was Harold Wilson, President of the Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce. “ The Ring of Fire is all opportunity and all potential. It is just a matter of us collectively as a community and with our leaders being able to take advantage of these opportunities. We need to make the case to the private sector companies involved why
we are the location that needs to be expanded on, why we have the goods and services, employees and everything else they need,” said Harold Wilson. “ We have the great opportunity here in terms of location but we need to be able to push that. We also have to look at it as a regional opportunity. I would not want to see us competing against communities near us like Greenstone. If there are some things that fit there that is fine because we also supply goods and services to those communities from Thunder Bay. We need to look at
the big picture including the First Nations communities where there will be significant opportunities to supply goods and services. The more we forge partnerships there will be a greater benefit to everyone. The companies are in the planning stages now but you can’t
sit back. I was here when Hemlo happened and other communities like Sault Ste Marie were much more aggressive about making their case when they were just starting out.”
“ There is no end to the upside of the Ring of Fire because it is not just one area or deposit but an area of 20 square miles. It is much bigger than the Sudbury basin so there are incredible opportunities in the long term for a long time. We have to make sure as a community that we are ready with everything from our infrastructure, our property development including housing or commercial. Also are the companies we already have ready for expansion,” said Harold Wilson. “ The location of the value added mineral processing facility is important. It will be energy price sensitive so we need to look at long term strategy to provide a reliable, affordable costing for energy. Companies aren’t going to make investment decisions like these without some stability in the future in terms of energy costs.”
