Communities in the running for a new chromite smelter will be watching the upcoming provincial election closely.
Thunder Bay, Timmins, Sault Ste. Marie and Sudbury have all made their pitch for Noront's proposed facility, which will process chromite from the Ring of Fire, and bring with it hundreds of jobs.
But can the party that forms the next government influence where the smelter ends up?
Rick Bartolucci, former Sudbury MPP and provincial Minister of Northern Mines and Development, told CBC's Morning North that even though the three major parties have plans for the Ring of Fire, selecting the smelter's home is not an easy answer.
"It is a very, very complex process," Bartolucci said. "And for those who think there's a quick fix regardless of what party gets in, it's just not there. This is a complex development."
'A Sudbury nationalist'
Bartolucci, who helped stickhandle negotiations with Cliffs Natural Resources when they considered a chromite project in 2012, said he expects each elected member to lobby hard for their respective districts.
"I think someone referred to me a while back as Sudbury nationalist," Bartolucci said. "But I also realized I had to be fair in my decision making."
"But as this project moves forward with the next government, there will be advocacy on the part of the members, as there should be. But ultimately, government has to offer the company what's best for the individual sites."
"At the end of the day, Noront will decide where the smelter will be."
No easy decision, says former minister
A decision of this size will also involve other cabinet ministers, he added, so the minister responsible for the mining portfolio won't be going it alone.
"WIth this particular project, because it's such a valuable asset to the province, and the country, you're going to have the Minister of Mines, the Minister of Environment, of Infrastructure, you're going to have those ministries together...so the mining company will ultimately be successful."
Bureaucracy stays in place
Bartolucci said even with variations in policy and approach by whichever party wins June's election, the ministry has a long enough history with the project that the new government can hit the ground running.
"Politicians come and go," he said. "Governments come and go. But the bureaucracy stays in place."
"I look at the ministry, the people who work there, they are so dedicated to mining," he said. "At the end of the day, the decision making will take place and it will be the right place for [the smelter] to go.