THUNDER BAY – One junior company now owns the mineral rights to three quarters of the claims in the Ring of Fire.
Noront Resources reached a deal MacDonald Mines Exploration on Aug. 8 that will see Noront acquire the Butler and Sanderson properties to the northwest and southwest of Noront’s previous holdings.
Noront describes the 77-unit Butler property as a “very prolific belt of felsic volcanic rocks,” including four known zinc/copper-rich deposits along a 12-kilometre-long strike. The company compared the nickel, copper and chromite potential of the Sanderson acquisition to its promising Black Thor site.
“We’re back,” said Noront exploration vice president, Ryan Weston.
“The exploration potential is second to none. We firmly believe this is Canada’s next mining camp and we’re taking the steps now to secure the grounds so we can be on the forefront of that.”
The acquisition increases Noront’s mining right holdings in the remote, chromite-rich Ring of Fire from 45 per cent to 75 per cent.
Weston said both Butler and Sanderson properties have seen “encouraging” drill results but resource calculations have yet to be made.
The company still intends to make its Eagle’s Nest deposit the first mine site in what could be a multi-generational mining venture in the James Bay lowlands. Feasibility studies for the Eagle’s Nest project have been completed and the project is now awaiting Ontario’s decision regarding where roads will be constructed.
“We’re really waiting on a road decision by the government in order to advance that to the next level. There was a community-led road study in June and we’re waiting on a decision by the government on the road in order to make progress on Eagle’s Nest.”
The Ring of Fire’s development is also waiting on the markets. Chromium is currently worth a third of its 2008 value. Nickel and copper have been tumbling since 2010 and while zinc’s value has been more stable, it’s still lower than it was at the turn of the decade.
Weston believes his company is buying in as the markets reach the low point in their cycle and he believes the recovery will begin to show within a year.
“I suspect by 2017, we’ll see a more robust base metal recovery,” Weston said.
“It probably won’t spike the way it did in the early 2000s but a slow and steady increase will certainly be welcome by 2018 when we’re hoping to have shovels in the ground. We should be well positioned to sort of reap the benefits of that.”
