OPINION: Chromite chronicles

Happy days are here again, or at least they soon will be if we can believe Mayor Hobbs.

Once that Ring of Fire thing kicks in we will all be rich.  It’s just a matter of time before the dividend cheques start rolling in – should be around 2015 or so.

The Ring of Fire will pay for new infrastructure and solve our social problems, all while respecting the environment and turning us into chromite millionaires. 

This promise of a golden future is being dangled in front of our noses while we dance like monkeys on a string, imagining all the things we could buy with the money.

Mr. Hobbs has a vision.  He can foresee a day when Thunder Bay is the new Fort McMurray.  Imagine that.

Minister Michael Gravelle couldn’t agree more.  He envisions a whole new generation of prosperity with thousands of new jobs and new, improved infrastructure for all.

Who knows what highways he’ll be twinning next?

At the federal level, Minister Tony Clement called the Ring of Fire the economic equivalent of the Athabasca oil sands. 

The entire country will see the financial impact, including the most disadvantaged First Nations communities in Canada who are being wooed with promises of big money.

With these three visionaries in agreement what could possibly go wrong?  Let’s get that chromite out of the ground and start spending.
It’s hard to ignore the so-called Ring of Fire. It was in the news again last week as stakeholders squabbled over where to build the access road.

Cliffs Natural Resources was denied use of its preferred route. It called this ruling a major setback, and threatened to withdraw from the project altogether. 

Negotiations between the Province of Ontario, the Matawa First Nations and Cliffs Natural Resources appear to be headed nowhere.
Patience is running thin. 

There is a lot of money at stake and it seems to be clouding everyone’s judgement, as greed often will.

The size of the pie everybody wants a piece of is estimated to be $30 to $50 billion of untapped mineral resources. 

This huge ore deposit is inconveniently located in the James Bay lowlands in the middle of nowhere, a two hour flight from Thunder Bay.
It is 300 kilometres to the nearest rail line or highway.  Before this project can go ahead the transportation difficulties must be overcome.

The construction costs will be huge.

Developers are looking for tax money to help defray the infrastructure cost.  They already have a promise of cheap electricity for the refiner in Sudbury.

Gee, I wonder who will be responsible for covering those freebies and making up for lost tax revenue. 

Some analysts question whether the Ring of Fire can ever be mined without becoming a massive tax burden for Canadians and trashing a pristine northern watershed.

The economic feasibility is in doubt right now. Declines in commodity prices, including refined chromite (ferrochrome) make this project questionable. 

From my perspective, money will be the least of their worries.  It will take a lot more than money to deal with the overwhelming social, cultural and environmental costs.

The 24,000 First Nations people living in 34 remote communities are caught in the middle of this clash of cultures.

The earth, the air and the water they value will be devastated by decades of open pit mining. Their ancestral homeland and traditional values will be sold for profit.

Stockholders are excited by this prospect.

Meanwhile, the rest of us dream of big chromite money, as we wait for the Hobbs/Gravelle/Clement vision to unfold and make us rich.

Let the good times roll.