KWG and court bnewswatch.com file photograph
A mining camp near the Ring of Fire is shown in this 2011 tbnewswatch.com file photograph.
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By tbnewswatch.com
THUNDER BAY -- Junior mining company KWG Resources has made the next move in a long-standing court battle with Cliffs Natural Resources.
The Toronto-based company has filed an appeal, which aims to reverse an earlier appeal that was successfully launched by Cliffs.
The battle involves road versus rail access to the Ring of Fire mining area. Originally Cliffs wanted consent to build a road over claims stakes by KWG.
The smaller company denied that request, saying it needs the route for a rail-line.
The province's Mining and Lands Commisioner ruled in KWG's favour. But Cliffs then went to Ontario Divisional Court and won an appeal against KWG.
That ruling is now being appealed by KWG.
It's a back-and-forth battle that vice-president Moe Lavigne says has greatly stunted progress and development for the company.
“Cliffs had been our partners in that development,” explained Lavigne. “In 2010 we realized that they wanted to take our claims away from us, the claims that we staked to build the railroad. So our abilities to raise funds for our project came to a standstill. We’re about four or five years delayed.”
Lavigne says they're confident that their appeal will go through.
If it does go through the company can then go back to the drawing board, and have a new outlook on the Ring of Fire by early summer.