Adding a "Steel Road" to the Gravel Road Corridor for the Ring of Fire

We believe that including a heavy-haul rail line in this road corridor would have a strong business and social case:

Rail Offers Economic and Social Advantages

• Rail can handle heavier loads of ore than a road, improving transportation economics while ensuring global competitiveness of extracted minerals.
• Rail offers seamless connection to the CN/CPKC rail network at Nakina enabling ore shipments to reach processing facilities in eastern and western Canada and the USA at a very competitive cost. On a tonne/km basis rail costs about 75% less than trucking.
• Rail provides all-weather mobility. We question the term “all weather road” because in the context of northern Ontario, there is no such thing. This is why Scandinavian countries use rail to move mined minerals to processing facilities and export terminals, year-round.
• Rail construction requires thousands of tons of  “green” Ontario steel which could be produced by Algoma Steel.
• Rail locomotives and freight cars generally last three times longer than highway vehicles and have a much higher residual value. Federal and Provincial policy is to purchase from Canadian manufacturers, whenever possible, while most heavy-duty highway trucks are imported from U.S. manufacturers.
• Rail diesel locomotives emit approximately 80% less CO2 per tonne/km than highway trucks. Electric locomotives emit no GHG and could be employed if the rail line is electrified.
• Consistent with Memorandum of Understanding signed July 22, 2025 between Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan "for new rail lines to connect critical mineral deposits located in Ontario's Ring of Fire region to ports in Western Canada"

 Benefits to Road Users from Adjacent Rail

• Reduced wear and tear on the road
• A highway-only mode requires the expenditure of significant taxpayer dollars over the long term for construction and maintenance to maintain its performance. An alternative railway solution could be solicited from the private sector on a guaranteed tonnage basis at much lower cost and risk to the Ontario taxpayer.
• Safer road operations due to the absence of hundreds of heavy trucks
• Less dust on the road due to absence of hundreds of heavy trucks

An analysis from Canada Chrome Corporation compared truck and rail for moving chromite ore from the Ring of Fire.  It provides data substantiating the above points.  We can send you excerpts from this analysis upon request. 

We urge you to include a rail connection in your studies. To do otherwise could entrench high transportation costs for mine inputs and outputs and make the Ring of Fire uncompetitive and unsustainable.  This is exemplified by iron ore mining in Labrador that is globally competitive because it employs primarily rail transportation for materials and personnel. We will be happy to discuss further.