The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.
Matawa First Nations chiefs say they welcome the decision last week to deny motions filed by the federal government and Cliffs Natural Resources in the judicial review of the environmental assessment process in the Ring of Fire.
Nine First Nations launched a legal challenge in November 2011 to the federal environmental assessment process.
The Ring of Fire, located about 500 km northeast of Thunder Bay, is potentially the largest mining development in Northern Ontario, FedNor Minister Tony Clement told chamber officials.
The region has significant deposits of nickel and copper and represents North America’s single largest deposit of chromite, the main ingredient in stainless steel. With mineral content worth an estimated $30 to $50 billion, the Ring of Fire could create up to 5,000 direct and indirect jobs in Northern Ontario alone.
Cliffs Natural Resources of Cleveland — one of a number of companies looking to develop the Ring of Fire — wants to open a chromite mine in northwestern Ontario and ship the ore to a refinery near Capreol. That would create as many as 500 jobs in Sudbury.
Cliffs and the government of Canada brought motions challenging some of the evidence the First Nations presented in the case and questioning the independence of three experts the chiefs intend to call during the review.
Prothonotar y Roza Aronovitch ruled Friday the motions brought by Cliffs and Canada caused “unnecessary delay” in the proceeding, awarded costs to the First Nations and set a deadline of July by which some legal procedures must be completed so a date can be set after that for the judicial review.
For the rest of this article, please go to the Sudbury Star website: http://www.thesudburystar.com/2013/03/20/chiefs-welcome-judicial-ruling