Timmins is NOT being ruled out for the Ring of Fire project

Timmins is NOT being ruled out for the Ring of Fire project

Sudbury considered favourite site for a smelter, but only for feasibility study purposes. Timmins is still in the running.
By Len Gillis / lgillis@timminstimes.com / Cliffs Natural Resources news release


One of the leading companies in the "Ring of Fire" chromite mining prospect has released a statement saying Sudbury is now considered the most favoured site for a new smelter. But the same statement clearly indicates the possibility that Timmins could become the site of a new ferrochrome smelter.
Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. of Cleveland issued the report Thursday night to outline what it calls a "base case" for setting up mining, smelting and transportation for the new chromite deposit. Chromite is an essential component in the production of stainless steel. A teleconference news event was also held Friday morning.
Bill Boor, president ,Ferroalloys said his company is currently conducting pre-feasibility studies to determine the viability of the project of the chromite project.

With Sudbury being used as the base case, Cliffs will still be evaluating other Northern Ontario Communities. Timmins is one of them.

In order for the chromite to be smelted, the company would need to build a Ferrochrome Production Facility (FPF) which uses requires a massive 300 megawatts of energy. The Times has been told that Timmins would be able to supply that much energy through existing Hydro One infrastructure.
TIMMINS STILL IN THE RUNNING
"The Company has identified only a few places in Northern Ontario where this power requirement can be met," said the statement from Cliffs.
"A brownfield site within the City of Greater Sudbury was identified as the 'base case' location for the FPF. Cliffs has plans to continue to meet with other northern municipalities, including Thunder Bay, Greenstone and Timmins, to continue discussing the potential of locating the FPF in their community," said the report.
"At current provincial power rates, there isn't a location in Ontario that is economically viable for Cliffs to build the FPF. Despite this, we have named Sudbury as the "base case" location, which we believe is representative of a technically feasible site," said Boor. "The viability of an Ontario based FPF and final selection of the location are still being evaluated."

The report goes on to state that the site would need an all-season road to allow for supplies to go in and ore and concentrates to come out. At some point that road would need to be connected with existing rail lines, said the report.