A mining company looking at building a new railway into the ring of fire presented a progress report Wednesday at an event hosted by the Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce.
The vice-president of KWG Resources Inc. detailed the plans for the area north of Nakina at the Prosperity Northwest trade show. While some may think the mining company is already starting to develop the railway corridor, K-W-G officials says it's still not been decided whether to move forward with the project.
KWG Resources has been studying the possibility of building a railroad through the mining exploration area known as the ring of fire. Vice President of Exploration and Development Moe Lavigne said over the winter they sampled soil along the potential 340 kilometre corridor in sand ridges.
The company is investing about $15 million in the study to determine what the cost of the whole project will be. Once that figure is known, Lavigne said they'll know if KWG can move forward. He said there's been some misunderstanding with itas some think they've already committed to the project.
Lavigne said the entire project will exceed $2 billion. If KWG decides to go through with it and everything goes as planned, the railway could start to take shape in 2016 Lavigne said. One of the next steps is a feasibility study and then an environmental assessment would be conducted. Lavigne was one of eight presenters at the first ever Business Building Business show.
