Ho-hum exploration results in the “Ring of Fire” in the McFaulds Lake area of northern Ontario have forced Hawk Uranium (HUI-V, HWKPF-O) to bow out of its joint-venture option agreement with Noront Resources (NOT-V, NOSOF-O).

The news sent Hawk Uranium’s shares down a penny, or 18.2%, to 4.5¢ apiece.

Noront’s final report on the diamond-drill program on the 50-50 joint-venture property did not recommend follow-up work.

“Based on geophysical interpretations of exploration results, a weakly-conductive drill target was selected for exploration,” Hawk Uranium explained in a release. “The samples obtained from that target were tested, and the results returned were found not to warrant further investigation.”

Noront began an initial three-hole diamond-drill program totalling about 450 metres in October 2008. The program targeted a prominent airborne geophysical anomaly that had been identified from roughly 300 line-km of helicopter-borne AeroTEM and magnetic geophysical surveys conducted at 100-metre line spacing.

Ground detail follow-up consisted of roughly 132 line-km of ground geophysical surveys, including horizontal loop electromagnetics, ground magnetometer and very low frequency electromagnetic surveys. A second airborne electromagnetic and magnetic survey was flown over the property using Geotech Ltd.-VTEM technology.

Under Hawk’s option agreement with Noront, which was concluded in November 2007, upon Hawk earning its 50% interest in the property, the parties would set up a joint management committee to develop the property as partners, with Noront continuing to act as the operator.

But Vance White, Hawk Uranium’s president, said by telephone that the company wasn’t giving up on the area. It still has a joint venture with MacDonald Mines Exploration (BMK-V) on a portion of the McNugget property, on the western edge of the James Bay lowlands.

Drilling by MacDonald in 2005 led to the discovery of VMS mineralization on the McNugget claim block immediately adjacent to the Hawk-McNugget property, as well as a large differentiated mafic-ultramafic complex with magnetite layering and minor sulphide.

Hawk Uranium holds a 36.7% stake in the joint-venture property, which is being explored for nickel, copper and platinum group elements (PGMs). The property is made up of six contiguous claims covering 15.5 sq. km.

Hawk has a diversified portfolio of exploration projects at various stages of exploration and drilling.

The Toronto-based exploration company is looking for uranium in northern Saskatchewan, Ontario and Quebec; gold in northern Ontario; and nickel, copper, and PGMs in the McFaulds Lake area.

Hawk Uranium has 51.6 million shares outstanding and has traded in a 52-week band of 2¢-32.5¢ a share.

Dan