Ontario’s Ring of Fire: Hype and Havoc

Plans to develop deposits in Ontario’s Ring of Fire have dominated the mining discussion in Ontario since the early 2000s. The discovery of a large chromium deposit and a number of other isolated concentrated deposits of nickel, gold and other metals in the region has led to a classic “bubble” of hype and  speculation. Claims of up to $60 billion worth of mineral in the Region are not uncommon

The bald facts about the Ring of Fire, however, paint a picture of havoc in First Nations communities and a threat to  the delicate ecology of the Boreal forest where the Ring of Fire is located.

No proof that there are economically feasible mines in the Ring of Fire

With the exception of the Noront Eagle’s Nest deposit, there has yet to be a completed feasibility study or even pre-feasibility study of any of the mineral deposits in the area.  The supposed “resource wealth” in the area is still based on “inferred resources” and is completely speculative.

Noront’s feasibility study depends upon “shared” investment in the access roads to the site (government covering all the costs), and exceeding low electricity rates. It should also be noted that Ring of Fire Metals/Noront is not proposing to mine chromite, but nickel, copper and other metals from a carrot shaped deposit within the Ring. Without taxpayer investment exceeding $2 billion, the Eagle’s Nest Mine is not viable. Even the CEO of the company thinks that Eagle’s Nest will only bring in half a billion dollars.

Cliffs stopped its feasibility study before it was completed and sold the deposit at bargain basement prices to Noront.  Probably a real bonus for Ontarians, as Cliffs has turned out to be an irresponsible mine operator in Canada, shutting down the Bloom Lake operation in Labrador without any reclamation and a bond that may not be available to protect the environment or nearby community.

Wyloo Metals of Australia bought the Noront project in April 2022 for $600 million, and renamed its operating subsidiary Ring of Fire Metals.

Cannot proceed without substantial taxpayer investment

To make mining chromite or anything else profitable, taxpayers will have to foot the bill for road to get the ore out of the area – an investment of over $2 billion. A ferro-chrome smelter would have to be built in order to make shipping the very bulky metal from Canada to markets economically feasible. A ferrochrome smelter is an enormous consumer of electricity and would also have to be heavily subsidized.  These subsidies do not include remote tax holidays and reduced royalty rates, externalized costs such as damages to the rivers in the area from methyl mercury, suspended solids and diversions, and the loss of habitat for wild animals and fish.

Creating undue stresses for  First Nations and the environment

Meanwhile, the affected First Nations in the Ring of Fire have been forced to spend inordinate amounts of time and energy trying to negotiate a decent deal for their communities from governments and whatever companies move into the area, and trying to defend their lands and waters from pillage.  Photos released in June 2015 by Wildlands League of the exploration footprint in the Ring of Fire are sobering.

In 2014, anticipating the problems they might face, the nine Matawa First Nations signed a Framework Agreement with the Province of Ontario.The RFA set out a community-based regional approach ensuring that Matawa member First Nations and Ontario would work together to advance opportunities in the Ring of Fire—focusing on the issues of regional long-term environmental monitoring, enhanced participation in environmental assessment processes, resource revenue sharing, economic supports, as well as regional and community infrastructure.

However, when discussions took over a year, the Ontario government cancelled the agreement in 2018. Instead  the Ontario government negotiated deals with two of the First Nations in the area: Marten Falls and Webequie, whereby they would become the proponents of the roads required to access the deposit.  It is not known how much money they were offered. Neither First Nation has filed with the First Nations Financial Transparency Act since 2018.

Although Ontario has been paying for expertise in the affected First Nations to deal with Ring of Fire mining issues, the First Nations continue to be seriously underfunded to deal with the social, cultural and economic issues created by residential schools and colonialism. More recently the COVID epidemic added to their distress. The Ring of Fire diverts energy and money from creating other kinds of economic and social development that the communities need and want.

The Roads to the Ring of Fire.

The Ring of Fire initiative consists of the exploration and development of multiple potential mineral deposits, with a long-term goal of constructing several mines and a potential refinery. The initiative involves a large-scale government-funded infrastructure program, which, among other things, includes bringing electricity, high-speed Internet, and transportation access to the region.

A core component of the initiative is the construction of a North-South transportation corridor which will connect the mine site with the highway and the transcontinental railway network. In 2012, then-Premier of Ontario Dalton McGuinty initiated the province’s plans for a major mining development project in the Ring of Fire area. In 2016, the Ontario government committed $1 billion toward the road.

Originally, this transportation corridor was part of a single, interconnected project encompassing a planned mine and refinery, and was treated as such by the original mining project proponent.

When the mine road met substantial opposition from the Matawa First Nations, the Ontario government, on the advice of Noront,  deliberately sought support from Marten Falls and Webequie by offering them a road to their communities if they were to become the proponents of the road project. Any costs for the Environmental Assessments to the First Nation road proponents are paid for by the Ontario and federal government and industry

Many procedural aspects of the Duty to Consult and Accommodate have been delegated by the Ontario Government to the NRL project proponents, the First Nations of Webequie and Marten Falls. The Aboriginal rights of other First Nations, which have used and occupied the region for millennia, have been marginalized from this process. Although these other First nations may apply for participant funding, the demands on their time and resources are endless and bureaucratized. Neskantaga is currently in court objecting to this process. However, all the First nations in the area are now faced with no less than seven Environmental Assessment projects.

Marten Falls became a Noront (now Ring of Fire Metals) shareholder.

The construction of the road has been split into three distinct projects:

(1) the Marten Falls Community Access Road, which is the first section of the North-South route, and which would provide the sole all-season road access into the mining district;

(2) the East-West supply road within the district, also known as the Webequie Supply Road (the “WSR” or “Supply Road”) which connects the First Nation to the main exploration camp., nd

(3) the Northern Road Link (“NRL”), which would complete the North-South route by connecting the MFCAR to the Eagle’s Nest mine site itself. Each project is now headed by a First Nation proponent or joint First Nation proponents, rather than the mining company itself.

Federal Regional Impact Assessment

A Regional Impact Assessment is currently being undertaken by the federal government to look at the impacts of the mining projects that this road is to service. An initial Terms of Reference for the Regional Impact Assessment was scrapped after a fierce fightback by downstream First Nations and Neskantaga. and it is currently being revised. So far the roads are excluded, although a request by Marten FAlls and Webequie to delay the EA for three years, may allow time for the RIA to be completed.

More Resources:

For readers who want a more complete picture of what is going on in the Ring of Fire, we suggest the following links for further reading:

Wildlife Conservation Society. Ring for FireWildlands League.Ring of Fire. Various environmental concerns.

Danya Scott and Deborah Cowen. “Mining Push Continues Despite Water Crisis in Neskantaga First Nation and Ontario’s Ring of Fire 

Excellent analysis (2018) of the First Nations issues in the Ring of Fire from Neil Power.  Ring of Fire; Homeland or Frontier?

Jed Chong. Library of Parliament. Resource Development in Canada, A Case Study of the Ring of Fire for the federal government(May 2014)

Huffington Post. Staking Claim: a multi-part series on the Ring of Fire (2013). follow their links for many different perspectives.

Kuyek, Joan. (2011)   Hope or Hype: an Economic Analysis of the Ring of Fire