Noront owns several of the best undeveloped chromite assets in the world including: Black Thor (100% ownership), Black Label (100% ownership), Blackbird (100% ownership) and Big Daddy (70% ownership). Their near surface location, extensive thicknesses, high grade chrome values and excellent Cr:Fe ratios make these deposits truly world class. Together, these chromite deposits, which are located in the highly prospective Ring of Fire region, total over 200 million tonnes of measured and indicated resources and roughly 50 million tonnes of inferred resources. The Blackbird deposit, which was discovered by Noront in 2008, is located within 1 kilometre of our flagship Eagle’s Nest project. Chromite layers are sub-vertical and extend from surface to below 300 metres. There are four segments, ranging from 5 to 35 metres in average true thickness and 300 to 400 metres in length. The Black Thor, Black Label and Big Daddy chromite deposits which were acquired by Noront from Cliffs Natural Resources in 2015 are within eight kilometres of Eagle’s Nest. These deposits come to surface with chromite lenses averaging between 40 and 80 metres in width (maximum widths at Black Thor are 130 metres). Their location near the surface makes them suitable for bulk open-pit and underground mining methods. With our world-class chromite deposits and nearby infrastructure from Eagle’s Nest, we believe Noront it is well-positioned to meet future demand for chromite in China as well as markets across Asia, Europe and North America. norontresources.com CHROMITE DEPOSITS PAGE 1
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Noront owns several of the best undeveloped chromite assets in the world including: Black Thor (100% ownership), Black Label (100% ownership), Blackbird (100% ownership) and Big Daddy (70% ownership). Their near surface location, extensive thicknesses, high grade chrome values and excellent Cr:Fe ratios make these deposits truly world class.
Together, these chromite deposits, which are located in the highly prospective Ring of Fire region, total over 200 million tonnes of measured and indicated resources and roughly 50 million tonnes of inferred resources.
The Blackbird deposit, which was discovered by Noront in 2008, is located within 1 kilometre of our flagship Eagle’s Nest project. Chromite layers are sub-vertical and extend from surface to below 300 metres. There are four segments, ranging from 5 to 35 metres in average true thickness and 300 to 400 metres in length.
The Black Thor, Black Label and Big Daddy chromite deposits which were acquired by Noront from Cliffs Natural Resources in 2015 are within eight kilometres of Eagle’s Nest. These deposits come to surface with chromite lenses averaging between 40 and 80 metres in width (maximum widths at Black Thor are 130 metres). Their location near the surface makes them suitable for bulk open-pit and underground mining methods.
With our world-class chromite deposits and nearby infrastructure from Eagle’s Nest, we believe Noront it is well-positioned to meet future demand for chromite in China as well as markets across Asia, Europe and North America.
1. Please see Sections 14.2 and 15.1 of the “Technical Report on the Updated Mineral Resource Estimate for the Updated Mineral Resource Estimate for the Blackbird Chromite Deposit” dated December 31, 2011 for a description of the key assumptions, parameters, and methods used to estimate the mineral resources and mineral reserves respectively. The report can be found under the Noront company profile on www.sedar.com. 2. Please see the report titled “National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report, Black Thor, Black Label and Big Daddy Chromite Deposits, McFaulds Lake Area, Ontario, Canada, Porcupine Mining Division, NTS 43D16, Mineral Resource Estimation Technical Report” dated July 27th, 2015, prepared by Alan Aubut, P.Geo., of the Sibley Basin Group for resource estimates for Black Thor, Black Label and Big Daddy. 3. Blackbird estimated at a cut-off grade of 30% Cr2O3. 4. Black Thor, Black Label and Big Daddy estimated at a cut-off grade of 20% Cr2O3.
CHROMITE MARKET AND DEVELOPMENT OPTIONS
Chromite is used in the fabrication of ferrochrome, which is required for the production of stainless steel. While the market for stainless steel is off from its recent production highs, experts are nevertheless forecasting robust annual growth of 4-5%.
China is the world’s largest ferrochrome producer, but has no meaningful domestic supply, relying instead on ore imports from South Africa and Pakistan. North America also has no domestic production of ferrochrome to feed its market which is approximately 500,000 tonnes per year.
As ferrochrome demand increases with the projected increase in stainless steel consumption, Noront is well-positioned to feed the North American and global export markets with our first class chromite assets. Our development plan takes advantage of the road and camp infrastructure being built for our flagship Eagle’s Nest nickel-copper-platinum group element mine project.
We are considering the following chromite development options:
3 High grade, smaller scale operation to feed the North American market;
3 Intermediate or specialty products to fill niche markets; and
3 High volume bulk commodity project to feed world ferrochrome market.
Noront is completing a strategic analysis of its chromite development alternatives with a view to advancing the preferred option to a preliminary economic analysis (PEA).
