Appealing a decision by the province's mining and lands commissioner means that a proposed development in the Ring of Fire is without a timeline.
Last month the commissioner dismissed applications by Cliffs Natural Resources that the company needed to build a road to the project. The company filed an appeal Wednesday.
Bill Boor, Cliffs senior vice-president of global ferroalloys said it could be six months before that appeal even gets a hearing.
"It's really not good for the development," Boor said. "We essentially don't have a timeline right now."
But the decision to appeal is about protecting the company's rights Boor said. KWG staked the land needed for the road in 2009. That company favours a railway over a road.
With the land being an average of 100 metres wide, there isn't' room for both. Boor said that a railway is not economically viable.
"I don't even know if I can even intelligently comment on what KWG intends to do," he said.