Proponents see northern Ontario’s Ring of Fire opposition melting like ice roads 

Construction timelines remain fuzzy but proponents are still optimistic two and half years into studying roads to serve the Ring of Fire critical minerals region in northern Ontario.  

Three all-season roads totalling 362 km are planned for the area 540 km northeast of Thunder Bay. The main highway would start at the end of a forestry road north of Aroland First Nation and the village of Nakina and head to the Ring of Fire. One branch would run to the Marten Falls First Nation to the east while another would connect to the Webequie First Nation to the west.   

The most advanced of the three roads, the Webequie branch, is in the end stages of its environmental assessment, but it still needs community (and government) review, Webequie First Nation Chief Cornelius Wabasse said on Tuesday in Toronto.  

“It’s not a long ways,” Wabasse said in an interview with The Northern Miner at the Indigenous Led Projects Forum. “I’m hoping that once we engage with our community about the environmental assessment findings and all that, then we move to the next phase which is hoping to start working on the road itself.”  

The roads are vital to unlocking billions of dollars – estimates vary widely – in critical minerals for supplying electric vehicle battery plants. The big three automakers – General Motors, Ford Motor and Stellantis – run factories in Ontario’s south. The province has pledged $1 billion to upgrade Ring of Fire infrastructure. But the proposed roads themselves may likely cost more than $2 billion while environmentalists say their construction and any mining would uncork from the area’s relentless bogland the very global warming gases the projects are supposed to combat.  

Even by the most optimistic estimates, construction won’t likely be completed for a decade partly because of the studies, engineering and design, and funding arrangements needed.  

Study variables

Michael Fox, CEO of Indigenous and Community Engagement, an Indigenous consultant which is working with Toronto-based management consultant Suslop in assisting the environmental assessment process for the roads, said there are too many variables to say how long it would take.  

There are discussions with government ministries such as transportation and the environment on the amount of drilling to prepare for bridge designs, for example, or how many years to study water and caribou, Fox said. The weather and even the hunting season can delay some aspects such as species counting, he added. 

“You hope when you do the plan, and at the end the report comes out, that it’s not deficient,” Fox said. “You do it right to the T because everybody wants a slam dunk in the first round —because to go back will really increase the cost.”  

That said, the process is combining federal and provincial environmental assessments, somewhat mirroring what Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson has called for in mining projects: to shorten approvals times by a third and knock off four or five years.  

Eagle’s Nest 

While 15 companies and people own claims across the 5,000-sq.-km Ring of Fire, there’s only one advanced project, the Eagle’s Nest held by Wyloo Metals. The company is owned by former Fortescue Metals Group (ASX: FMG) CEO Andrew Forrest, Australian’s second-richest person.  

The project was estimated to cost $609 million to build, but that was in a 2012 feasibility study. Wyloo says it’s spending $25 million on more studies to update the project. It hosts proven and probable reserves of 11.1 million tonnes grading 1.68% nickel, 0.87% copper, 0.87 gram platinum per tonne, 3.09 grams palladium and 0.18 gram gold, according to the earlier work.  

“We’ve got one mine (project) right now, but exceptional drilling across the other parts of the Ring of Fire,” Ontario Mines Minister George Pirie told The Northern Miner at the forum. “Regardless of the timing, it’s not a competition because we will need everything that’s being developed.”  

Even so, several First Nations in northern Ontario including the Neskantaga, Grassy Narrows, Wapekeka and Big Trout Lake, are against the project. Some leaders were expelled from Queen’s Park a year ago for protesting during a legislature session. However, the Ontario Superior Court in October dismissed a Neskantaga challenge against the province that alleged failure to consult during the road studies.   

“I don’t think there’s any real opposition,” Webequie First Nation Chief Wabasse said. “It’s just clarifying some of the things that they want clarified in terms of environment and also habitat and how we’re going to address these issues without destroying the land. There has to be some things in place in order to satisfy some of the First Nations or even us as well.” 

Ice roads 

Minister Pirie expressly similar optimism.  

“All the nations agree with development. Individually, they’ll tell you that,” he said. “I really believe that everybody wants to see this happen and what everybody sees is we need the roads. The winter roads don’t exist anymore.” 

Indeed, climate change itself is catching up to the road project. Usually, Ring of Fire ice roads are open for three months a year to serve the northern communities with truckloads of goods instead of more expensive plane cargo. This year it was four weeks, Marten Falls First Nation Chief Bruce Achneepineskum said.  

“It’s very dangerous conditions trying to transport thousands of tonnes of heavy grade equipment, materials and large trucks over frozen roads and muskeg that many times may be only 16 to 20 inches,” he said. “It’s just crazy to think about that.” 

The melting ice roads are the subject of a new documentary, Bridges to the North, by Indigenous film-maker Tony McGuire. Marten Falls residents told him after the film was completed they only got half or less of their usual supplies in this year’s ice road season.  

“The film itself had a prediction. I said it could be 10 to 15 years when there are no winter roads,” McGuire said in an interview. “I didn’t know that would come true so quickly.”