Page 50 By Frank Giorno Clif fs Natural Resources may defer some preparatory work on the Black Thor site as a result of an earnings call in the last week of October and in light of current iron ore pricing One of the levers Clif fs has to deal with market changes is related to our chromite project said Patricia Per sico Director of Global Communica tions for Clif fs in a telephone inter view with Mining Life project has for the company s future in light of the current iron ore pricing environment we are reviewing the project s timeline Persico said Clif fs is looking to open its chromite mine by the end of 2016 but it has decided to delay early construction work until completion of its feasibil ity study This move could potentially delay start up of production into 2017 or even later depending on market conditions and Clif fs cash position In the meantime Clif f will consider taking on a partner for the project Clif fs still expects to complete the feasibility study and the environmen tal assessment by 2013 Clif fs proposes to develop a chro mite mine in the Ring near McFaulds Lake It is currently undertaking a co Contd on pg 52 Cliffs may delay Black Thor start up continues to work on environmental assessment ordinated Environ mental As sessment EA under the Canadi an Environ mental As sessment Act and the Ontario Environ mental As sessment Act There will be multiple opportuni ties for the public to participate in the environmental assessment process said Patricia Persico Clif fs Resources must obtain approv al for its environmental assessment from the Ontario and Canadian gov ernment before proceeding to develop the chromite mine related processing and transportation components and the ferrochrome production facility In addition it must also obtain ap proval permits for the design of water and wastewater treatment facilities tailings management site rehabilita tion and air emission controls The Ring of Fire is located about 500 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay and about 70 km east of the W e bequie First Nation It is about 150 km west of the De Beers V ictor Diamond Mine The area consists of muskeg swamps and has the potential to become a ma jor mining site for chromite nickel copper gold and other minerals In July 2012 Cliffs r e leased its draft terms of r e fer e nces for the pr ovin cial envir onmental assessment for public comment to multiple inter ested municipalities First Nation communities federal and pr ovin cial government agencies and non governmental organizations The comment period ended in August 2012 and extensions were granted for some commenters into October The T e rms of Reference document will be updated based on the comments re ceived during the comment period The T e rms of Reference contains the description of Clif f s proposal for de veloping the chromite mine concen trate process facility transportation system and the ferrochrome produc tion facility The operation of these components will be the basis for Clif fs Environmental Assessment if approved by the provincial environ ment ministries The environmental assessment will help determine the best way to carry out the mining transportation pro evaluating potential impacts on the environment by the project It also will contain information about how potential negative impacts will be mitigated or eliminated through proj ect design or utilization of alterna tives The federal Environmental Impact Statement guidelines the coordinat ed counterpart to the provincial EA December 201 1 Cliffs pr oposes to operate an open pit mine that will be used to extract or e at a rate of appr oximately 6000 tons to 12000 tons per day At that rate of extraction Cliffs anticipates the open pit will operate for 30 years According to Persico One million tons per year of chromite concentrate will be produced at Clif fs concentrate processing facility located at the mine site and direct shipped to international ferrochrome producers The proposed Capreol ferrochrome production facility will produce 600000 tons of ferrochrome per year for export to markets where stainless