The Toronto Star reports in its Saturday, Feb. 22, edition that only a handful of miners from Cliffs Natural Resources and Noront Resources are left at the shared Esker camp, a remote outpost in the Ring of Fire region north of Thunder Bay. The Star's Lisa Wright writes that half of Cliffs Natural Resources exploration camp sits on land claims owned by rival Noront Resources where drilling has stopped. Cliffs said three months ago it was shelving its massive chromite mining project in the Ring of Fire mineral belt. Now a dozen men share an awkward co-existence in a virtual ghost town. While Cliffs is in mothballing mode, Noront is loading up on fuel and other supplies as it prepares to start construction next year on its Eagle's Nest nickel-copper-platinum mine. The Star says the Ring of Fire is touted to be the next Sudbury basin. Noront has spent $200-million to date on exploration and Noront boss Alan Coutts says it is not worth burning up any more shareholders money on drilling further until there is some sense of certainty that they can get underground ore to market. Noront is applying for permit approvals to build an all-season road that is 280 kilometres long.