McFaulds Lake Project
Jeremy Niemi, Vice President, Geology for Noront Resources is the qualified person who prepared or supervised the preparation of the scientific and technical information disclosed herein.
Blackbird
In January 2008, Noront began drilling numerous airborne targets identified on their claims near the Eagle One (Eagle's Nest) discovery. In February 2008, drilling at the AT-2 Anomaly, approximately 2 kilometres southwest of Eagle's Nest, intersected low grade magmatic massive sulphide mineralization which was named Eagle Two. That same drilling intersected layers and massive beds of chromite, a mineral rare in Canada but with very specific uses.
Chromite is essential to the manufacture of stainless stell. It is extensively mined in South Africa, Kazahkstan, Turkey, India and Finland.
Initial analyses of the chromite indicated grades and chrome to iron ratios comparable to the more robust chromite deposits currently mined.
In February 2009, the company committed $20 to $25 million to completing a drill program designed to allow an initial estimate of chromite resources sufficient to support a 25 year mine life. A total of 154 holes for 52,375 metres were completed at Blackbird. The results continue to demonstrate the presence of a potentially world class chromite district.
The Blackbird chromites are a stratiform Kemi-type chromite deposit, similar to the Kemi mine in Finland. It is interpreted that the chromites at Blackbird formed as a result of magmatic segregation.
In December 2009, Noront became the first Canadian company in the Ring of Fire to release a measured, indicated and inferred chromite resource. The estimate, prepared by Micon International Ltd, estimated:
Measured resource
5.2 M tonnes @ 34.4% chromite with a Cr:Fe ratio of 1.88
Indicated resource
3.7 M tonnes @ 35.3% chromite with a Cr:Fe ratio of 1.91
Inferred resources
6.1 M tonnes @ 33.4% chromite with a Cr:Fe ratio of 1.87
The Blackbird chromites remain open at depth and represent a small portion of a much larger chromite resource that includes the nearby deposits of Cliffs, Probe, Spider/KWG and likely additional chromite deposits yet to be discovered. The potential exists for a chromite mining operation with a mine life measured in decades. This potential for a long life asset has tremendous appeal to the government of Ontario, a reason why the Ring of Fire is being increasingly mentioned in provincial discussions.