Ring of Fire: Turning an 'F' into an 'A'
Panel discussion participants from left, Josh Hjartarson, Ontario Chamber of Commerce; George Darling, SNC-Lavalin; Paul Semple, CEO of Noront Resources; Moe Lavigne, Vice president of KWG Resources; and Martin Bayer, lawyer with Weaver Simmons. They spoke at the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce Ring of Fire report card launch on Wednesday, March 11, 2015. Gino Donato/Sudbury Star/QMI Agency
The Canadian government has a history of investing in "transformational projects" such as the Alberta oil sands and the Churchill Falls hydroelectric project, says an Ontario Chamber of Commerce spokesman.
It should now provide a "hard commitment" to develop Ontario's Ring of Fire chromite deposits, says Josh Hjartarson, vice-president of policy and government relations for the Ontario chamber.
"Northern Ontario is just in demanding a similar level of investment," Hjartarson told 150 people at the Ring of Fire Report Card launch Wednesday at Dynamic Earth.
The report card, "Where Are We Now?" graded the federal and provincial governments on the action they have taken -- or not taken -- since the Ontario Chamber of Commerce's first report last year on the economic benefit of developing the Ring of Fire.
The federal government received an F for not making the Ring of Fire a national priority, and that has generated headlines this week, said Hjartarson. The report was presented to business leaders in Toronto on Tuesday.
While the intent of the report was not to blame the federal government, the chamber is acting in its capacity as an advocacy group to ensure there are "political costs" to ignoring the issue, he said.
The Ontario Chamber of Commerce has produced the reports to "create the urgency" to develop the rich chromite deposits before investors "chase other opportunities," he said.
It will take pressure to get the federal government to stop considering the Ring of Fire a northern initiative and to make it a national public policy priority, he said.
It wasn't just the federal government that was given a poor grade in report, a followup to last year's "Beneath the Surface: Uncovering the Economic Potential of Ontario's Ring of Fire."
The Government of Ontario also received a failing mark for not developing an infrastructure plan and for permitting delays that are keeping the company closest to opening a mine in the Ring of Fire from progressing.
Noront Resources has waited more than two years for permit for its Eagle's Nest project, something that should have been done within a few months.
Hjartarson called that a "de facto moratorium" on development.
The province also received low marks for not completing agreements with first nations and mining companies.
While the province has committed $1 billion for infrastructure in the Ring of Fire, it's not a "line item" in the budget, said Hjartarson.
"There isn't a plan and we're stalled," he told the audience.
He and the Ontario Chamber of Commerce want to like to see an "encompassing plan" by next year that includes development of transportation systems and electricity, and that addresses social issues in the communities near or in the Ring.
The Ontario government has touted its "historic" framework agreement with members of the Matawa Tribal Council near the Ring, but nobody knows what it means or understands it.
"We need to get a little transparency around the negotiations" and clarity around timelines, said Hjartarson.
The chamber also wants the province to capitalize on the value of assets in the Ring of Fire by requiring companies to mine and smelt them in Ontario, but the "prohibitive cost" of electricity for processing must be addressed.
"We can't simply be hewers of wood and drawers of water."
The federal government recently announced it will fund a $785,000 joint study with the province of an all-weather road to the Ring of Fire. Natural Resources Minister Greg Rickford has said the province can apply for funding for individual infrastructure projects when they are planned.
Moe Lavigne, vice-president of exploration for KWG Resources, was one of four panelists at the report card launch. He was crystal clear in his answer to what progress he would like to see a year from now in developing the Ring of Fire.
He wants to see something that has been missing in discussions so far - a vision for the chromite deposits in the James Bay lowlands, leadership that will drive that vision and broad support for the plan.
Lavigne and other junior miners have spoken about how delays in decision-making by the province on a transportation system and other issues have made it difficult to attract investment.
He attended the recent Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada convention in Toronto and, while it was well-attended, the "deep-pocketed investors that usually troll the halls of PDAC" were missing.
Greg Darling, of SNC Lavalin in Sudbury, comes from a family of mining engineers and has worked all over the world. He said he is one of the few people who have managed a chrome mine, one the former Inco operated in New Caledonia.
Darling said he was "totally stunned" by how long it has taken "to get nowhere" in developing the Ring of Fire.
Paul Semple, chief operating officer of Noront Resources, said the framework agreement reached by the Government of Ontario with the Matawa chiefs is a commendable exercise, but it doesn't mean projects with benefits for first nations couldn't be going ahead on their own.
He took a swipe at the province for its "historic" framework agreement saying it will be a historic day when his company is operating and hiring a workforce.
Martin Bayer, a lawyer who works in aboriginal law, said it wasn't clear to him when he read the framework agreement what the outcomes are expected to be for member first nations.
He said he didn't see why there would be anything stopping first nations "from getting on with their work with Noront" while the framework agreement is fleshed out.
Darling said it may be that the Ring of Fire is a project of such magnitude it "scares investors."
It should be approached like eating an elephant, he said, one small piece at a time.
He suggested $500 million be invested at a time to move the project ahead in incremental stages.
"If that thinking had been done five or six years ago, we'd be done," he said.
To read the report, "Where Are We Now?" go to www.sudburychamber.ca.
carol.mulligan@sunmedia.ca