Even though developing the Ring of Fire means thousands of jobs, it has to be done the right way an official with Cliff’s Natural Resources says.
The right way means protecting the environment while still maximizing the potential of Cliff’s chromite deposits in the Far North. Cliff’s senior vice-president of global ferroalloys Bill Boor said that’s why his company held an open house in Thunder Bay on Thursday.
“(We have) a real genuine desire on our part to get out and talk to people that are close in any way to the project,” Boor said on the phone Thursday. “We want to have that two way dialogue.” Cliff’s is developing its framework for an environmental assessment for its chromite project so the more feedback it gets from people the better Boor said.
Kate Layfield is a fourth-year Lakehead University student. Her environmental assessment class has been tasked with doing research projects on chromite mining and the Cliff’s project for Matawa, which represents some First Nations communities that will be most directly affected by the project. Layfield said in through her research, she has found that there are health impacts involved with chromite mining.
She’s not certain that the company or the environmental assessment will address and mitigate concerns but she is hoping that people in Matawa communities will at least have proper information to ask the right questions. She has also seen ways that environmental impact and economic benefits can be balanced.
“I’m not against this project. I don’t have a problem with it. All I want to do is make sure we know what we’re getting into and the right questions are being put in place. There are definitely ways to mitigate the problems that can come out of this,” Layfield said during the open house at the Travelodge Airlane.
Boor said there are appropriate concerns about the environment but so far, Cliff’s is very confident that a balance can be found.
“In all of our project work we have not come across anything that indicates we’ve got an issue that can’t be well managed,” he said.
That balance is one of the reasons Bob Ekholm came to the open house. He said the company had been very forthcoming in answering his questions so far. There is no doubt that the project will have a major impact on the region he said.
“The sheer magnitude of it is really what brought me out here.”
Local construction foreman Norman Fullum said he wanted to find out more about the project. And, because of the employment potential, he wanted to see what kind of opportunities will be available in the future.
“(Job opportunities) for myself for maybe friends or my children, anything. This project is going to be ongoing for like 30 years in our community so I’m interested in seeing how far it’s going to go and if I can participate,” he said.
Boor said Thunder Bay is going to be and already has been a key area in developing the Ring of Fire.
“We expect Thunder Bay to essentially be the source of a lot of the employment,” he said.
The open house continues until 8 p.m.