THUNDER BAY – BUSINESS – Noront Resources Ltd. (“Noront”) (TSX Venture: NOT) is reopening Esker Site and mobilizing its team to resume exploration activities in the Ring of Fire.
“We are initiating a late summer field program that will require 12-15 people during which we’ll employ soil sampling to explore for gold and airborne geophysical surveys to explore for nickel,” said Noront President and CEO Alan Coutts.
Esker Site was closed in early April to protect staff and the communities surrounding Noront’s operations from the spread of COVID-19. Now that the site is reopening, a rigorous back-to-work protocol is in place. It will ensure workers traveling to and from the site are symptom-free and low risk. In addition, travel will be reduced to essential staff with minimal planned flights. While at the site, workers will practice social distancing and wear face masks when necessary. Regular sanitizing of common touchpoints will be performed daily. At no point will Noront flights will be landing in either Webequie or Marten Falls First Nation as per guidance from the local Chiefs and Councils.
Gold Exploration
Noront previously discovered anomalous gold mineralization in over 50 diamond drill holes along the Triple-J fault zone and within the Thunderbird intrusion 13 km northeast of Esker Site. Both occurrences are close to the Webequie Shear Zone (WSZ) which is believed to be prospective for greenstone hosted gold mineralization but has never been explored for gold (Figure 1).
Soil samples will be collected in a 10 km by 5 km area along the WSZ to detect areas of anomalous gold indicative of a bedrock source. Soil sampling will also be performed across a secondary structure bisecting the Thunderbird ferrogabbro intrusion where past drilling intersected auriferous quartz-sulfide veins cross-cutting magnetite-rich portions of the intrusion resulting in sulfidation of the magnetite to pyrrhotite-pyrite in a process similar to many BIF-hosted gold deposits worldwide.
Nickel Exploration
In 2019, several early-stage targets believed to be prospective for nickel mineralization were also identified. From this work, the Victory project, located 25 km east of Esker Site, was ranked highly and staked in early 2020. It is thought to consist of a thick sequence of ultramafic sills and/or flows intruding a sulfidic volcano-sedimentary sequence known as the Victory assemblage. The target has never been drilled tested and has had limited geophysical surveying. Geotech has been commissioned to fly a 600 line-km VTEM-plus airborne EM (electromagnetic) survey over the Victory target in late August to identify nickel-sulfide conductors.
Permitting
Now that all sections of the North-South All-Season Access Road have proponents, funding, and are advancing their Environmental Assessment (EA) processes, Noront will re-initiate EA activities for its Eagle’s Nest nickel-copper-platinum group element deposit. Because an all-season access road was originally part of the Eagle’s Nest Terms of Reference, Noront will submit a request for the access road to be excluded and for an adjusted Terms of Reference to be issued by the province of Ontario.
Annual General Meeting
The Noront AGM will take place on September 3, 2020, at the Company’s Toronto office. To manage potential health risks and provincially mandated COVID-19 physical distancing requirements, a call-in meeting of shareholders will be conducted on that date, followed by a video update and a question and answer session hosted by Noront President and CEO, Alan Coutts. Noront staff in Thunder Bay and Toronto continue to work remotely.
About Noront Resources
Noront Resources Ltd. is focused on development of its high-grade Eagle’s Nest nickel, copper, platinum and palladium deposit and the world-class chromite deposits including Blackbird, Black Thor, and Big Daddy, all of which are located in the James Bay Lowlands of Ontario in an emerging metals camp known as the Ring of Fire. www.norontresources.com
Ryan Weston, P.Geo., Noront Vice President Exploration and a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (“NI-43-101”) has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this press release.
