Ontario "disappointed" as mining firm suspends project in Ring of Fire The Ontario government is "disappointed" that a major mineral company has suspended operations in the Ring of Fire, but it says the province will take its time developing the region. Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. announced late Wednesday that it is indefinitely stopping the development of a major chromite deposit, citing "uncertainty" over when the necessary infrastructure will be built in the area. The Ring of Fire, which is in the James Bay lowlands in Northern Ontario, is believed to be one of the province's largest mineral reserves, but its development is hampered by a lack of road or rail link to ship out the ore and it is unclear when or if the government will build one. Northern Development Minister Michael Gravelle said the government has to sort things out with local aboriginal communities before development can proceed. "In a perfect world, you'd love to see this project moving forward in a different way, in a more quick way," he said. But the key thing is, we need to do this right, and if we don't do it right, this project won't move forward. He said he was "disappointed" by Cliff's decision. The Opposition said the government had spent too long twiddling its thumbs and failed to get the project going. "They've certainly not played a leadership role in getting that key road or rail link to the site built," Progressive Conservative MPP Norm Miller said. We haven't seen any action. He predicted that the move would send a bad sign to other potential investors in the area. "When you see them leaving the province of Ontario, that's a very bad signal for other mining companies and that's a very bad signal for doing biz in the province of Ontario," he said. They've been patient, they've tried to engage the government and they've failed. Cliffs has already sunk $500-million (U.S.) into the project, including $350-million for the mineral rights to three chromite deposits, company spokeswoman Pat Persico said. This year, the company is on track to spend $50-million more. "Without land surface rights, without infrastructure certainty, without the [environmental assessment] process terms of reference being approved ... we can't continue to spend at the levels we're been spending," she said. The Cleveland-based company has budgeted $3.3-billion total for the project. Ms. Persico said the company will hold on to its rights to mine in the region. The company still sees potential in the area and the mineral deposit, she said, and is willing to work with governments and other parties once the outstanding issues are resolved. The move by Cliffs comes at time that mining companies are slashing project budgets amid a financing drought as investors turn to safer investments. Prices for metals have been volatile lately, adding to the uncertainty. RBC Capital Markets analyst Fraser Phillips said Cliffs" decision to suspend operations will let the miner focus on its core iron ore projects, such as its Bloom Lake mine in Quebec. "It has been our view that the project would take years to develop if it could ultimately be developed at all," Mr. Phillips said in a research note to clients. Noront Resources Ltd. said it is moving ahead with plans to mine the deposit of nickel, copper and platinum it calls Eagle's Nest, and will file a draft environmental impact assessment by the end of the year. "We're hopefully going to see a bit of a silver lining come out of this decision by Cliffs in that it does underline the fact that the processes like environmental approval and decisions around infrastructure have to be taken on a timely basis," said Alan Coutts, chief executive officer of Noront, a Toronto-based miner that in 2007 made one of the first discoveries in the region.