Ring of Fire mapPremier Kathleen Wynne is defending slow progress in developing the Ring of Fire by saying it takes time to get things right.

The province has earmarked $1 billion for infrastructure in the northern Ontario mining area that holds one of the world’s richest chromite deposits as well as nickel, copper and platinum.

Speaking in Thunder Bay today, Wynne acknowledged she said a year ago she won’t consider her government to have been successful unless progress has been made in the Ring of Fire, but she says some progress has already been made.

She says while there are nothing has been built yet, and agreements with First Nations haven’t been finalized, work is a lot further along than it was one year ago.

Michael Gravelle, the minister of northern development and mines, says building up the Ring of Fire isn’t just about a transportation corridor to a mine site, it’s about opening up access to communities in the north.

He says Noront Resources is making the Ring of Fire a priority after it signed a US$20-million deal to buy claims that were owned indirectly by Cliffs Natural Resources Inc., which said in late 2013 that it had suspended investment plans for the Ring of Fire area.

(From The Canadian Press)