Greater Sudbury Moving Forward in Wake of Noront Ferrochrome Production Facility Announcement

The City of Greater Sudbury met with representatives from Noront Resources this morning, and learned its bid for a proposed ferrochrome production facility at the former Inco Coniston Smelter Site was no longer under consideration.

“Today I, along with City staff, met with Al Coutts and Steve Flewelling of Noront Resources. I was disappointed to learn that Noront Resources had decided not to proceed further with the proposed Greater Sudbury site for their ferrochrome production facility. While this was difficult news to hear, they also reinforced what we already know; that our strength in the industry is in our labour force, the cost of doing business in the community and the supply capacity of the sector,” said Greater Sudbury Mayor Brian Bigger.

“We are very much looking forward to continuing to work with Noront Resources with opportunities that present themselves from the Ring of Fire, such as the refining of nickel in our community. I will continue to champion economic development and job creation in our community, and will use the information provided today to refine our strategies moving forward. I would like to thank staff and our community partners for their hard work and collaboration during this entire process.”

Based on its requirements, Noront cited a number of factors in its decision that included the significant capital expenditure needed to construct the facility and negative feedback from some members of the community. The company also indicated that this was a very difficult decision, as all four communities, Greater Sudbury, Timmins, Sault Ste. Marie and Thunder Bay, developed and submitted very strong but diverse proposals.

“While the news is disappointing, the feedback received from Noront reinforces the advantages and strengths Greater Sudbury has to offer economic investment opportunities, including the future benefits our local companies will see from the Noront project, regardless of where the site is located,” said Brian Vaillancourt, Chair of the Greater Sudbury Development Corporation.

“We will learn from this experience as we undertake a review of our employment lands strategy in 2019, and I know there are other exciting opportunities on the horizon for Greater Sudbury.”

With support from key community partners including Wahnapitae First Nation and Atikameksheng Anishnawbek, the City submitted its bid to Noront Resources in February 2018. The total cost of the Greater Sudbury bid is estimated at approximately $90,000, funded through the Greater Sudbury Development Corporation.

Noront plans to make its final decision later this summer. Construction of the ferrochrome production facility is proposed to begin within the next five to ten years at a cost of approximately $1 billion. The facility will create approximately 350 permanent jobs and approximately 150 indirect jobs in the successful community.

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