MOST RECENT ASSAYS CONTINUE TO
RETURN HIGH GRADE MINERALIZATION
TORONTO, ONTARIO - (Dec. 21, 2007) - Noront Resources Ltd. ("Noront")(TSX
VENTURE: NOT) is pleased to
announce further progress of the diamond drilling and geophysical program,
as well as recently received assay results on its 100%-owned Eagle One
occurrence within Noront's Double Eagle Project in the McFauld's Lake Area
of northeastern Ontario. "The Eagle One occurrence continues to
display consistent high grade intersections of Nickel, Copper, Platinum and
Palladium over quite impressive widths. The southerly stepout assay results
in hole 19 confirms that the Ni-Cu-PGE sulphide zone continues within the
southerly striking peridotite filled conduit. We will keep on tracing this
to the south and to depth after the Christmas break." states Richard
Nemis, President and CEO of Noront.
HIGHLIGHTS
- NOT-07-17 encountered the main mineralized zone between 96.5 meters and
177.5 meters downhole that over 81 meters averaged 0.77% Cu, 1.55% Ni, 0.91
g/t Pt, 2.97 g/t Pd, 0.13 g/t Au and 3.1 g/t Ag including a 7.5 meter wide
massive sulphide intersection that averaged 1.54% Cu, 6.81% Ni, 2.17 g/t
Pt, 6.62 g/t Pd, 0.15 g/t Au and 6.12 g/t Ag.
- NOT-07-18 intersected mineralization between 105.2 meters and 230 meters,
however due to lab delays, the semi-massive to massive sulphide section
from 215 to 230 is not yet available. A 59.2 meter zone of net textured
sulphides between 132.5 meters and 191.7 meters averaged 0.93% Cu, 1.84%
Ni, 1.28 g/t Pt, 3.15 g/t Pd, 0.45 g/t Au and 3.9 g/t Ag followed by a 23.3
meter wide semi-massive to massive sulphide mineralized zone that averaged
1.52% Cu, 2.7% Ni, 2.02 g/t Pt, 5.86 g/t Pd, 0.15 g/t Au and 4.97 g/t Ag.
- NOT-07-19 encountered the main mineralized zone between 104.2 meters and
110.8 meters over a drill intersection of 6.6 meters that averaged 0.63%
Cu, 2.32% Ni, 1.13 g/t Pt, 3.93 g/t Pd, 0.06 g/t Au and 3.01 g/t Ag. This
37.5 meter stepout to the south is quite encouraging as the grade remains
consistent.
- The on-going Aero-Tem-2 airborne geophysics is near completion. Other
anomalies within 5 kilometers of Eagle One have been identified with
similar geophysical expressions. These are high priority targets and will
be drill tested in the New Year. Two new drills have been contracted and
are scheduled to arrive in mid January 2008.
Click here to view new drill hole data table
New Hole Summaries (assays received)
NOT-07-17 is positioned at the same collar location as hole NOT-07-16 with
an initial dip of -60 degrees to undercut the mineralization encountered in
the upper holes. This hole intersected well mineralized peridotite between
96.5 meters and 137.7 meters, then encountered net textured sulphide
mineralization between 137.7 meters and 170 meters. Between 170 and 177.5
massive sulphide mineralization was encountered, followed by altered
peridotite to a depth of 178. The hole then entered granodiorite and was
stopped at 191 meters total depth. The net textured mineralized zone over
32.3 meters averaged 1.28% Cu, 1.73% Ni, 1.31 g/t Pt, 3.68g/t Pd, 0.21 g/t
Au and 5.24 g/t Ag. This was followed by a 7.5 meter wide massive sulphide
intersection that averaged 1.54% Cu, 6.81% Ni, 2.17 g/t Pt, 6.62 g/t Pd,
0.15 g/t Au and 6.12 g/t Ag.
NOT-07-18 was also positioned at the same collar location as hole NOT-07-17
and NOT-07-16 undercutting the mineralization encountered in the two upper
holes. The initial dip of this hole was set at -69 degrees. Between 105.2
meters and 132.5 meters the hole entered well mineralized peridotite, then
it entered into a long section of net textured sulphides in peridotite
between 132.5 to 191.7 meters.. Then from 191.7 to 230 meters the hole
encountered semi-massive to massive sulphides before the hole encountered
granodiorite. The 59.2 meter long net textured mineralized zone averaged
0.93% Cu, 1.84% Ni, 1.28 g/t Pt, 3.15 g/t Pd, 0.45 g/t Au and 3.9 g/t Ag. This
was followed by a 38.3 meter long semi-massive to massive sulphide
mineralized zone, however due to lab delays only the first 23.3 meter
section of this zone is available. This 23.3 meter section averaged 1.52% Cu,
2.7% Ni, 2.02 g/t Pt, 5.86 g/t Pd, 0.15 g/t Au and 4.97 g/t Ag. The remaining 15 meter wide massive sulphide
section averages will be announced upon receipt.
NOT-07-19 was completed along an E-W section representing a 37.5 meter
step-out section to the south of holes 17 and 18 along the mineralized
body.
The hole was drilled at local grid collar location 50+83E at 10+50N with an
initial azimuth of 270 degrees and an initial dip of -45 degrees. Peridotite
was intersected at 20.1 meters downhole, variably mineralized between 46.5
and 64.5 meters, assays for this section were low. This hole then entered
weakly mineralized peridotite, between 64.5 meters and 74.2 meters
downhole, then from 93 to 104..2 the mineralization increased getting more
pervasive until around 109 meters downhole, intersecting a few mafic and
felsic dikes. Between 109 and 109.2 massive sulphide was intersected,
followed by altered peridotite until 110.8 when granodiorite and another
mafic dike was encountered to the end of the hole at 132 meters. The main
mineralized zone in this drillhole was encountered between 104.2 and 110.8
over a drill intersection of 6.6 meters that averaged 0.63% Cu, 2.32% Ni,
1.13 g/t Pt, 3.93 g/t Pd, 0.06 g/t Au and 3.01 g/t Ag. This 37.5 meter
stepout to the south is quite encouraging as the grade remains consistently
high.
Please note that the drill intercepts mentioned herein are not true widths,
any reference to true width at this time in the exploration of the Eagle
One MMS occurrence would be misleading. The mineralized body is an
irregular tubular shape plunging towards the south, based upon the drilling
to date.
Click here to view Local Grid and UTM Co-ordinates For New
Holes
Please note that the local grid collar locations are measured from the NW -
SE oriented un-surveyed picket lines, whereas the UTM (Universal Transverse
Mercator) co-ordinates are the GPS surveyed collar locations. The latter
should be used when plotting drill holes as this co-ordinate system
provides ease in relating the drilling to the geophysical and other
surveys. An drill collar location plan of the area has been added to the
Noront website www.norontresources.com, showing locations of earlier drill
hole collar locations as well as highlights from each hole drilled. This
drill plan will continue to be updated as new information is received.
The Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) coordinate system is a grid based
method of specifying locations on the surface of the Earth. It is
universally recognized but differs from the traditional method of latitude
and longitude in several respects (taken from Google).
Noront has completed 5,335.6 meters of diamond drilling in 29 diamond drill
holes (including one current hole that is incomplete) on the Eagle One
Ni-Cu-PGE occurrence since starting the drill program in late August. The
following table summarizes recent drill hole locations (based upon local
and UTM grid coordinates) and provides details of the drilling completed
thus far.
Some of the drilling in the last two months was designed to meet the
minimum requirements for a preliminary resource estimate and specific
gravity measurements have been obtained from the drill core as required by
the Company's independent consultants. Fill in holes within the known
mineralized body are necessary in order to comply with NI-43-101 guidelines
for resource estimates. Based upon the size of the occurrence, it is
currently anticipated that an additional 6 holes are necessary to be
completed. In the event that new mineralization is encountered that alters
the shape and extent of the current body as it is presently understood, the
number of holes required would increase accordingly. The Company plans on
proceeding with a mineral resource study in early 2008.
Drill hole summary descriptions (since last release Dec. 12, 2007)
Hole NOT-07-28 was drilled at local grid collar location 51+74E at 10+69N
with an initial azimuth of 270 degrees, being the same location as hole
NOT-07-26 that was earlier abandoned. The dip was reset at -51 degrees to
go around casing and rod lost in hole 26. After 14.8 meters of overburden and
limestone this hole entered granodiorite until 128.1 meters when olivine
gabbro was encountered until 140.1 meters. Between 140.1 and 169 meters,
peridotite was encountered, followed by mineralized peridotite to 175
meters. Net textured mineralized peridotite was then encountered and the
hole remained in this rock unit until 202 meters, the hole has been
suspended for season ending break. This hole will be completed in early
2008.
Hole NOT-07-29 was drilled at local grid collar location 51+16E at 11+66N
with an initial azimuth of 090 degrees and an initial dip of -45 degrees.
After 9.7 meters of overburden and limestone the hole entered granodiorite
mixed with mafic dikes until 24 meters after which the hole entered
mineralized peridotite until 26.1 meters when a narrow intersection of
massive sulphide was encountered between 26.1 and 26.5 meters, this was
followed by a thin felsic dike to 26.85 meters, then the hole encountered
another section of variably mineralized peridotite until 35 meters. Net
texture sulphide mineralization in peridotite was then intersected until
70.5 meters, followed by mineralized peridotite until 84.2 meters. The hole
then entered granodiorite until it was terminated at 87 meters. The
mineralized section in this hole was over 60.2 meters, between 24 meters
and 84.2 meters.
Christmas Break
All field crews with the exception of the Aeroquest airborne crew and camp
watchman have left the project area for the Christmas break. Aeroquest is
expected to be leaving by this weekend, returning in the New Year to
continue the airborne program. Ground exploration will also resume early in
the new year, linecutters will be the first back in, along with the
necessary helicopter support staff followed by geophysical crews.
Maintenance will be performed on the drill equipment during this period,
drill crews are scheduled to arrive in mid January to resume drilling. Two
new drills have been contracted from an additional drill service provider
(Forage Orbit Garant) from Val D'Or Quebec, that are scheduled to arrive in
mid January 2008.
Ground geophysical surveys are being compiled and are under review, focused
on the Eagle One occurrence and its immediate surroundings. Several
airborne anomalies, with geophysical attributes similar to the Eagle One
occurrence, have been identified in the preliminary presentation of the
Aeroquest airborne data. These anomalies are located to the south and west
of the Eagle One occurrence as well as to the northwest, all within 5
kilometers of Eagle One. Each of these anomalies will be detailed by ground
geophysics prior to drill testing.
On Site Quality Assurance / Quality Control Measures
The aforementioned assay and sample information, as well as geological
descriptions are taken from drill logs as prepared by two site geologists
for the drill program, Dr. Howard Lahti, P.Geo., of Fredericton, New
Brunswick and Mike Kilbourne, geologist from Newmarket, Ontario. Billiken
Management Services Inc. is providing all services on site for the Noront
Double Eagle Project, from their base camp at McFaulds Lake. Billiken is a
holder of Certificate of Authorization issued by the Association of
Professional Geoscientists of Ontario.
All assay work and sampling procedures have been included in earlier news
releases. Chain of Custody includes delivery to ALS Chemex Laboratory in
Vancouver BC, where all samples undergo analysis using ALS Chemex assay
procedure AA46 for nickel, copper and silver, and ICP24 for Au, Pt, and Pd.
When samples received over-limit values they underwent further analysis
using ALS Chemex assay procedure ICP27 (for gold, platinum and palladium),
as well as GRA21 for gold. The reader is referred to: http://www.alschemex.com
for details of these analytical procedures.
Independent Quality Assurance and Quality Control Protocol
Gold, platinum and palladium are assayed using fire assay on a 50 gram
nominal sample weight with an ICP-AES finish. Nickel and copper are assayed
using aqua regia (3-acid) digestion with either ICP-AES or AAS finish. A
comprehensive QA/QC program has been implemented to monitor all assays on
the Double Eagle Project. Samples are assembled in numbered batches of 77
samples, which equates to the number of client samples per furnace batch at
ALS Chemex. Included in each batch of 77 samples are 4 certified reference
material samples, 3 blank samples comprised of sterile drill core, and 4
field duplicate samples. This QC program was set up for Noront by Tracy
Armstrong P.Geo, of P&E Mining Consultants Inc. ("P&E")
of Brampton, Ontario. Ms. Armstrong is a qualified geologist in the
Provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Assay results are being monitored on an
on-going, real time basis for accuracy, contamination and precision by
P&E. The current sample set will be reviewed by Ms. Armstrong once some
additional batches are completed, and will be reported upon in a timely
manner.
This press release includes certain "Forward-Looking
Statements" within the meaning of the US Private Securities Reform Act
of 1995. Other than statements of historical fact, all statements are
"Forward-Looking Statements" that involve such various known and
unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors. There can be no assurance
that such statements will prove accurate. Results and future events could
differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Readers of
this press release are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these
"Forward-Looking Statements".
This press release has been prepared by management of Noront Resources
Ltd., and has been approved for dissemination by Neil Novak P.Geo., a
director and recently appointed Vice President Exploration of Noront, being
a Qualified Person under Canadian Securities guidelines.
Noront is a tier 2 junior resource company on the TSX Venture Exchange,
trading symbol NOT, with 118,478,582 shares issued to date.
Investors are invited to visit Noront's IR Hub at http://www.agoracom.com/IR/Noront
where they can post questions and receive answers or review questions and
answers already posted by other investors. Alternatively, investors are
able to e-mail all questions and correspondence to NOT@agoracom.com where
they can also request.
The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept
responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Noront Resources Ltd.
Richard Nemis
(416) 864-1456
Fax: (416)367-5444
Email: info@norontresources.com
Website: http://www.norontresources.com