{"id":1169770,"date":"2020-03-05T18:01:26","date_gmt":"2020-03-06T00:01:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=1016275"},"modified":"2020-03-05T18:01:26","modified_gmt":"2020-03-06T00:01:26","slug":"ring-of-fire-ontario-to-move-ahead-with-north-south-road-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1169770","title":{"rendered":"Ring of Fire: Ontario to move ahead with north-south road"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ontario premier Doug Ford and Greg Rickford, minister of Northern Development and Mines and Indigenous Affairs were at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada convention (PDAC) this week to announce a new agreement with two First Nations in the Ring of Fire to plan and develop a north-south road into the remote region.<\/p>\n<div class='d-flex justify-content-center d-xs-block d-sm-block d-md-none'>\n<div id='div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0'><script>googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0');});<\/script><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The Northern Road Link, an all-season road that would connect the Marten Falls community access road at the south end to the proposed Webequie supply road at the north end is supported by the Marten Falls and Webequie First Nations. <\/p>\n<p>Marten Falls Chief Bruce Achneepineskum and Webequie Chief Cornelius Wabasse were both on hand for the signing ceremony.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote alignright\">\n<blockquote>\n<p> The Ring of Fire, which lies about 500 km northeast of Thunder Bay, hosts chrome, nickel-copper-platinum group elements and other mineral deposits <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The Ring of Fire, which lies about 500 km northeast of Thunder Bay, hosts chrome, nickel-copper-platinum group elements and other mineral deposits. <\/p>\n<p>The most advanced project is&nbsp;Noront Resources\u2018 Eagle\u2019s Nest nickel-copper-PGE project.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, the provincial government decided to scrap the previous Liberal government\u2019s approach to development, which was based on a regional framework agreement, because of slow progress. <\/p>\n<p>Instead, Ford\u2019s Progressive Conservatives are pursuing agreements with individual communities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter 15 years of delay by the previous government, we said we would build a road to the Ring of Fire, and we are working with our incredible partners in the Marten Falls First Nation and Webequie First Nation to do just that and make sure we do it right,\u201d said Ford in a release.<\/p>\n<p>The government noted road access will improve access to health and social services for First Nations in area, and put in place improved infrastructure, such as high-speed Internet and reliable cellular service. <\/p>\n<p>In October, the province announced a $30-million investment to provide modern broadband communications infrastructure to five Matawa member communities: Nibinamik, Neskantaga, Eabametoong, Marten Falls and Webequie.<\/p>\n<p>Both Achneepineskum and Wabasse noted in a release that they are in favour of sustainable development and the new opportunities it will bring to their communities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMarten Falls First Nation takes seriously our right to make decisions for the betterment of our community,\u201d said Chief Achneepineskum of Marten Falls. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are moving ahead with this agreement so all communities in the region can connect to the next phase, which is to secure and bring good-paying jobs in mining, construction and other skilled trades to our communities,\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have been working together with Ontario for many years to reach this point,\u201d said Webequie Chief Wabasse. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe believe that road development will help bring prosperity to communities across the region and better infrastructure \u2013 both on and off-reserve. We understand that road development will impact our traditional territories but believe this is a positive step forward to unlocking new opportunities that will benefit all surrounding First Nation communities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>However, not all First Nations in the Ring of Fire area are on board. Some support an east-west link that was originally proposed by Noront. <\/p>\n<p>The chiefs of the Lac Seul, Cat Lake, Slate Falls, and Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug First Nations are part of the East-West Ring of Fire Road Coalition, as are the mayor of Sioux Lookout, as well as Morgan Fuels, Perron Contracting and the Sioux Lookout Friendship Accord.<\/p>\n<p>And Neskantaga Chief Chris Moonias has said the proposed north-south road bisects the core of his community\u2019s territory and warned that its consent is needed for any development.<\/p>\n<p>While Noront Resources originally supported the east-west road, the company\u2019s president and CEO Alan Coutts said in a statement that he was encouraged by the agreement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCompletion of an all-season road offers benefits to both industry and local communities. It will provide access to the Ring of Fire and enable mineral development,\u201d Coutts said. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt will also bring much-needed all-season access to these communities and improvements to health and social services, high-speed Internet and cellular service for local communities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Coutts said Noront will modify its project description to incorporate a north-south road.<\/p>\n<p><em>(This article first appeared in the&nbsp;<\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.canadianminingjournal.com\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Canadian<br \/>\nMining Journal<\/em><\/a><em>)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ontario announces agreement with two First Nations to develop a north-south road into the region.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[369,4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1169770"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1169770"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1169770\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1169771,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1169770\/revisions\/1169771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1169770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1169770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1169770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}