HIGH-GRADE NI-CU-PT-PD-ZN-CR-AU-V-TI DISCOVERIES IN THE "RING OF FIRE"

NI 43-101 Update (September 2012): 11.1 Mt @ 1.68% Ni, 0.87% Cu, 0.89 gpt Pt and 3.09 gpt Pd and 0.18 gpt Au (Proven & Probable Reserves) / 8.9 Mt @ 1.10% Ni, 1.14% Cu, 1.16 gpt Pt and 3.49 gpt Pd and 0.30 gpt Au (Inferred Resource)

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Message: Noront fired up to resume work in Ring of Fire

 

https://www.timminspress.com/news/local-news/noront-fired-up-to-resume-work-in-ring-of-fire

Noront fired up to resume work in Ring of Fire

“Timmins stands to be one of the major hubs and centres that will support the Ring of Fire development in future years" - Alan Coutts

Andrew Autio, Local Journalism Initiative reporter
Published on: August 10, 2020 | Last Updated: August 10, 2020 6:40 PM EDT

Alan Coutts, Noront Resources CEO, says road work to access Ring of Fire has moved forward. Elaine Della-Mattia/Postmedia Network SunMedia

After nearly four months of inactivity due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Noront Resources has re-opened its Esker Site in Northern Ontario’s Ring of Fire with some exciting new developments.

Esker Site is Noront’s main hub in the Ring of Fire region within the James Bay lowlands.

“We usually have crews in there, anywhere from about 10 to 25 people. But in the spring, in late March, we decided to put everything on hold because COVID had hit, and people were unsure about what kind of health risks that posed,” said Alan Coutts, the company president and chief executive officer.

They were particularly concerned about risks to the remote First Nations communities in the area.

“We often interact with them, and we were worried about their health, so we shut everything down.”

After several months of assessing the situation, Coutts feels “way more confident” that the company understands the risks associated with the virus, and that if certain strict protocols can be followed, progress on the project can get rolling again.

“We feel that it’s time to get back to work in the Ring of Fire. We’re excited to be going back in.”

Crews began flying back to the Esker Site last week, and for the time being, approximately 15 people will be working in the area. Travel will be reduced to essential staff with minimal planned flights. At no point will the flights land in either Webequie or Marten Falls First Nation as per guidance from local chiefs and councils.

Workers will practise physical distancing as much as possible, and wear facemasks when necessary. Common touch points will be sanitized frequently.

Noront employees in both Toronto and Thunder Bay are continuing to work from home.

For the crews at Esker Site, soil sampling and airborne geophysical surveys are on the agenda.

“We’re focusing the next programs on gold,” said Coutts. “As you know, the price of gold is sky high and we’ve got some really good gold discoveries that we’ve made over the last few years. We’re going to go in there, do some follow-up work, and generate some new targets.”

Regarding the idea of an all-season access road to the region, the plan has been changed. Most often, when there is a new mining development, the mining company is the proponent, and source of provisions like access roads.

“When we applied to the Government of Ontario for our terms of reference for our project, they included the all-season access road into the region. We started doing work along those lines, but ultimately the First Nations came to us and they said, ‘Look, this is our traditional land, we’d like to lead the environmental assessments across our lands,’ and we thought that was a good idea,” said Coutts.

“We said, ‘Yeah, great idea, let’s change the model up,’ and the province liked that approach as well. So over the last couple of years, we’ve been establishing First Nation proponents to the environmental assessment over the road.”

The road will be over 300 kilometres in length, so Coutts said it’s important that everyone is involved in the process.

“So now that we have all sections of the road progressing, there’s no reason for Noront to still have that obligation in our Terms of Reference for our environmental assessment.”

Noront has requested an update to its Terms of Reference with the Ontario government which excludes the access road.

“So that’s the next step for us. But it’s good, it means things are progressing and I think everyone is happy about the way it is moving ahead.”

Coutts said about 20 kilometres of road upgrade was completed in 2019. Some of the roads leading into the Ring of Fire are existing forestry roads, and some will be new construction. Existing roads can be upgraded fairly quickly, whereas new construction will take much longer and are much more intensive in its environmental assessment.

It will probably take another couple of years to get all the assessments done, but as they get completed, you’ll see work, you’ll see upgrades on the forestry roads, you’ll see new construction going on, with a view of getting those roads done over the next few years.”

An addition to promising gold targets, Noront is also exploring what Coutts called “an attractive nickel belt.” The emerging electric vehicle market has a big need for nickel, particularly from environmentally conscious operations.

There’s lots of interest in nickel these days. There’s a big move afoot.”

While it is certainly good news for Noront stakeholders, Coutts emphasized that he believes Timmins will play an important role in the project moving forward.

Timmins stands to be one of the major hubs and centres that will support the Ring of Fire development in future years — a very experienced workforce with a lot of the skills that we’re looking for.”

Typically, at least half of Noront’s employees working at Esker Site are from local First Nation communities. With work resuming and COVID-19 still a major concern, Coutts made it clear those employees won’t be travelling back and forth from the site to their home communities.

“It’s just another precaution we’re taking,” he said.

The next few months will be hectic for Noront, but in a year as challenging and unpredictable as 2020 has been, Coutts said it just feels nice to get the ball rolling again. Noront’s annual general meeting will take place in early September.

“There’s lots happening, that’s why we wanted to get back in there.”

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