The threat of a provincial election could mean more delays for Cliffs Natural Resources’ plans to develop the Ring of Fire.
Cliffs has faced a number of delays as it moves forward with development of the massive chromite despite in the lower James Bay area. The project is still going through a feasibility phase and hasn’t completed any environmental assessments.
The American company also has to have 123 permits approved in order to start building a more than 340-kilometer road leading to the Ring of Fire.
On top of that, negotiations with the province stopped during the Ontario Liberal leadership convention.
Bill Boor, Cliff's senior vice-president of global ferroalloys, said they have to get back to the negotiating table to get the deal out the way. But a possible election could cause the negotiation process to go into a holding pattern and prevent the project from forward.
“We understood that when the administration changed in February that that creates a bit of a speed bump,” he said. “That’s very understandable. (An election) could threaten the potential schedule. If it was a true administration change then we would kind of be back – I’m not sure how far back – but we’d be back at the drawing board.
“It’s a risk; it’s a risk to the project at a time when people see that the industry isn’t working in our favour. There’s no lack of commitment from Cliffs but we’ve had to become very patient.”
Boor added that because of all the delays the timeline that they originally worked with is no longer feasible.
Cliffs also has to cement the deal with the province on the ferrochrome processing plant. Cliffs chose to build the plant outside of Sudbury.
Boor said the company hasn’t actively looked at other locations but added they need to make the deal definitive.
Power for the project remains a big concern for Boor as well as starting to build infrastructure such as an all-weather road.
Delays weren’t the only problems Cliffs was facing.
The company suffered a share collapse and announced in November last year that it would be delaying a mine expansion in Quebec because of weak iron ore prices.
Boor admitted his company hasn’t had the best year. He said they’ve always talked about taking on partners for the Ring of Fire project and added that affordability isn’t an issue.
“A development like this is going to take many years to get in place,” Boor said. “It’s the nature of our industry that we have cycles. Within the company, I don’t see any change of commitment to the project. The investment is going to be spread over time. We’re going to have the opportunity to consider partners and other sources of funding.”
