XPS notes in its latest newsletter that the Canadian federal government is still keen on advancing development of the Ring of Fire. The Ring of Fire is a crescent shaped area located approximately 240 km west of James Bay and northeast of Thunder Bay. There is tremendous opportunity in the Ring of Fire to create new jobs in northern Ontario.
Natural Resources Minister Greg Rickford initiated the siren at the opening of business on Thursday May 14 at the Toronto Stock Exchange to mark National Mining Week, a celebration of Canada’s leadership and expertise in the industry.
The minister hand-picked a who’s who of ‘movers and shakers’ from Northern Ontario to accompany him at the ceremony and they met in a roundtable session afterward to discuss mining in the Ring of Fire. In attendance was Mika Muinonen, Manager, XPS Extractive Metallurgy and Dominic Fragomeni, Director XPS, Frank Smeenk, President and Chief Executive Officer of KWG Resources, and Alan Coutts, President and CEO of Noront Resources.
Rickford, who is also minister of the Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario, said the theme of mining week this year was Innovation in Canada’s Mineral Development Model.
“In today’s world, innovation is the price of admission, the prerequisite for success,” said Rickford.
The Conservatives’ Economic Action Plan 2015 pledged C$23 million over five years for the further development of the technology and innovation required to develop rare earth elements and chromite.
“This will be critical as the Ring of Fire moves forward,” he said.
XPS has been collaborating with NRCan, Canmet, industry and peer groups in charting the course for these programs in both rare earths and chromite. XPS position in chromite processing is well known as it has been working with KWG Resources in the testing and development of a novel direct reduction technology for Ring of Fire chromite and with Cliffs (now Noront) in the assessment of conventional DC smelting technologies complete with techno-economic analysis.
The diagram, courtesy of Noront Resources, shows the Ring of Fire regional magnetic fabric
