Ring of Fire volcanic eruptions of the last 11,700 years occurred at volcanoes in the Ring of Fire. The Ring of Fire is a direct result of plate tectonics: the movement and collisions of lithospheric plates, especially subduction in the northern portion. The southern portion is more complex, with a number of smaller tectonic plates in collision with the Pacific plate from the Mariana Islands, the Philippines, Bougainville, Tonga, and New Zealand. The presence of a belt of volcanic activity surrounding the Pacific Ocean was observed in the 19th century. "They [the Japanese Islands] are in the line of that immense circle of
Ring of Fire (Northern Ontario) that will spin-off jobs and economic activity for generations". In May 2012, Cliffs Natural Resources announced its intention of investing $3.3-billion in Northern Ontario's Ring of Fire region, which would include a chromite mine, a transportation corridor and a smelter in Sudbury, Ontario. Cliffs initially invested $550-million to acquire and begin development. By 2013, Cliffs had suspended the project "after numerous delays and difficult discussions with the province [of Ontario] and the First Nations communities". Cliffs sold its assets to the smaller Canadian company, Noront Resources Ltd. for USD20 million. In February 2013, KWG Resources, a Toronto-based junior miner, released