Mines minister defends Cliffs’ processing plan – CBC News Thunder Bay (February 15, 2013)

http://www.cbc.ca/thunderbay/

Michael Gravelle responds to criticism that more than half of chromite to leave province

Ontario’s mines minister says if more than half the chromite mined in the Ring of Fire is processed in Ontario, that’s a lot better than none. On Thursday, NDP MPP Gilles Bisson criticized a plan by Cliffs Natural Resources to ship the rest of its ore to China.

Michael Gravelle says the processor to be built in Sudbury will create hundreds of new jobs plus spin-off jobs.

“[If the proposal is successful], what we’re going to be seeing … [is] the first ferrochrome processing facility in North America,” Gravelle said. “We’re going to see value-added opportunity in the province of Ontario that was never there before.”

Gravelle added that shipping ore to other jurisdictions for processing is not uncommon.

He said ore from other countries and provinces is processed in Ontario.

For the original version of this article, please go to the CBC News Thunder Bay website: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/story/2013/02/15/tby-gravelle-bisson-ring-of-fire-reaction.html

Editor’s Note:

Finland has one underground chromite mine at Kemi which provides less than three per cent of global production. With this small mine, the country has established both a ferrochrome furnace and a large stainless steel plant at Tornio, located 25 kms. from the Kemi mine site in the far north of the country.

Some estimates put the chromite reserves in the Ring of Fire at almost 25% of the global total. Ontario has a population of about 13 million versus the 5 1/2 million who live in Finland. According to Finland’s 2010 Mineral Strategy document, “Mineral raw materials in Finland are only exported to a very small extent. Consequently, Finnish mineral raw materials primarily benefit downstream production within Finland.”

For a thorough history of how Finland transfored a small chromite deposit into the largest single-site stainless steel facility in the world click here:  http://republicofmining.com/2013/02/18/finland-transforms-chrome-deposits-into-largest-single-site-stainless-steel-production-at-tornio-a-history-by-jorma-kovalainen/