I say preliminary because I'll be doing a photo-tour report to give you a feel for the place, once I return home and upload my photos.
I did not sign a non-disclosure agreement, and none was required, as we were not provided with any material information. That said, I know things that you don't, and I'll try and detail those for you now. I'll use point form format.
Drills
- Five were turning yesterday, and by today, the sixth (new deep rig) was hoped to be in use.
- The deep rigs are Big Sue and Big Boy. One is collared right on hole 49, extending it. Information about depth of penetration, core data, etc. was strictly controlled. I was unable to find a chink in that armour.
- Three rigs remain on Eagles Nest doing infill work, to upgrade inferred resources to indicated, for economic projections. New data obtained below ~1000 metres will likely remain inferred, due to the cost of holes at that depth.
- Sixth drill is on AT12, but when that rig's contract with Cyr Drilling expires, the rig will be let go. More on AT12 in a moment.
Regional Exploration
- One third of the budget this year will go to regional exploration, i.e. work outside of the Eagle's Nest Complex.
- State of the art aerial magnetic/EM surveys have been completed on two "sectors" of Noront's claims, with the final two being flown at present by Terraquest. With 100 metre transects on a 60 metre elevation, the data being obtained is already revealing exciting new targets. Approximately 10 have already been given high priority, all within the southern band of the ring that has given the greatest prior success.
- Of the 1/3 of the company's budget for the year dedicated to regional work, about 90% will go into drilling.
- A limited program will soon begin in the NE quadrant of the RoF, near the Ekwan River.
Eagle's Nest
- About 22% of this year's budget, split such that about a quarter will go to infill drilling, to upgrade the resource category in the intermediate depths, and the rest to deep drilling.
- Big Sue and Big Boy are positioned on either side of the ore column, allowing them to drill deep from the east and west simultaneously.
AT12
- There is a lot of excitement about this target, especially in light of new geophysical data obtained from the Terraquest high-res aerial surveys.
- However, the blockade this winter really screwed up their plans for this target, as the most important part of this winter program would have the collection of ground-based data from SQUID receivers. SQUID stands for super-conducting quantum interference device, and these are the most sensitive signal detection devices known. They virtually require frozen ground for logistical reasons, because you need terra firma, solid ground, to stabilize the equipment. They're considering their options at the moment, but AT12 might be on hold temporarily.
- Targetting of the drills is exceedingly important here, as the ground is the most difficult of any they've tried to work from. They have gaps of 300 metres between collars in some instances, but they need good target data before they can commit the resources to try and position a rig. Wait until you see my pictures of what is considered to be good drill conditions, at Eagle's Nest. This is challenging work.
Triple J
- Approximately 2500 assays were submitted, and most of that round have come back from the lab.
- Because of some of the values returned, more samples have been submitted.
- As an analytical chemist myself, I want to make clear that they are not withholding assay results from you. Assays do not come back from the lab in press-release ready format. There is substantial work to compile and analyze the results. I've been given a crude timeline of 4-6 weeks for those results to be available.
Transport Options
- There was a lively discussion on the flight in about the costs of transportation infrastructure. One of the analysts mentioned costing out a similar project recently, and it came in at $3 million/kilometre in fixed costs, plus 40% in indirect costs for the entire project.
- Worst case all weather roads can cost out at $.75 to 1.0 million per kilometre.
- With these considerations, alternatives are being very seriously investigated.
Feasibility/Engineering Consultants
- 30% of this year's budget goes towards a feasibility study of the Eagle's Nest Complex.
- Micon is the lead consultant
- Subcontractors have been selected for many of the required components of the larger study:
- Socio-economic: Wynterose
- Environmental Baseline: AECOM
- Full Environmental: To be determined
- Mining Engineering: Cementation
- Process Engineering, Eagle's Nest: SNC Lavalin
- Resource Definition: Golder
- Process Engineering, Blackbirds: Hatch
- Geotechnical: To be determined
- Transportation: SNC Lavalin
- Wes anticipated making quarterly reports on the progress in these various categories of study, such that the feasibility study will develop sequentially.
First Nations initiatives
- Chief Nolan spoke at length about various initiatives designed to bring economic development to the affected communities. These include doing skill surveys of these communities, identifying the skill upgrading that will be required, and to develop and implement the appropriate training programs that will enable full participation in the jobs of the future.
- Noront presently employs about 15 members of the local FNs.
- A significant portion of the corporate budget for this year will go towards community development programs.
Random comments
- The granodiorite intrusive rock is turning out to be of very good quality, from the perspective of rock mechanics. Noront is therefore considering developing all mine facilities underground. A by-product of such work would be significant amounts of aggregate, which could turn out to be quite valuable to other parties. Furthermore, that would permit underground emplacement of tailings, eliminating surface environmental concerns.
- Due to the high costs of labour inputs, particularly in remote locations, serious consideration is being given to remote operation of mining equipment. Crude estimates are that a savings of 40% of production costs would be possible.
- Yes, that was me in three Twitter pictures from yesterday. Because I sunburn easily, I was wearing my Tilley hat. I love my Tilley hat.
- The food was excellent. But I was told that we did not get anything too out of the ordinary. When on site, away from home and family, working brutal 12 on/12 off rotations, feeding hard working people poor quality food is a false economy. Your best workers simply won't come back.
That's it for the moment. Questions welcome (I might think of other stuff to talk about), but I likely won't see them until later today. I have to get myself ready to check out of the hotel.
Lar
