The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.
Sudbury wants a ferrochrome facility. This was made clear to Mayor Marianne Matichuk at the Cliffs Natural Resources open house in Capreol on Tuesday.
“Most of the people I’ve talked to are very positive. They’re just like, ‘When are they coming?’ People are open to having this in their community,” Matichuk said about a proposed ferrochrome production facility that may be built at the Mountain Moose Mine site outside of Capreol.
While the Greater Sudbury location is one of many possibilities, Cliffs has marked it as a base case for the project. Although community support is there, Matichuk is worried about how Ontario’s hydro rates may affect Sudbury’s chances of getting the plant.
“There’s no question about it,” she said. “(Hydro costs) could be the make it or break it. … We’re trying to work with the (Ontario) government to see what we can do.”
According to Dave Cartella, one of several Cliffs consultants and staff at the open house, the processing facility would use around 300 megawatts.
“There are not a lot of places that can handle the load,” he said.
With Greater Sudbury’s mining knowledge, history and infrastructure “the city meets all the requirements we need,” he said. “The price of power, it’ll be the seminal point that drives that decision (of where to put the facility).”
So far, Cliffs has held two open houses, one in Thunder Bay and one in Capreol.
“The biggest thing is to get the feedback from the public (and to) introduce the project and give people some detailed information.”
The open house concentrated on Cliffs’ lengthy environmental assessment process, which may be completed by 2013.
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