40 40 Page 40 By Frank Giorno When experts talk about the mining potential in the Ring of Fire they are referring to the rich chromite de posits found in the area but the frst mine that will be developed will be Noront s Eagle s Nest a nickel de posit with strong concentrations of platinum palladium and copper Sudbury is assured a role in smelting Noront s nickel concentrates extract ed from it s Eagle s Nest nickel fnd as Allan Coutts Noront s President and CEO explained while speaking at the Canadian Mining Expo 2018 in T immins on June 5 The frst deposit we are going to de velop in the Ring of Fire is a nickel deposit called Eagle s Nest it is the most advanced one and that concen trate will go to Sudbury The reason that is going to be the frst deposit is because there are already two smelt ers in Sudbury that can process that ore Allan Coutts told a gathering of local reporters Noront holds a 100 interest in Ea gle s Nest one of the lar gest unde veloped highgrade nickel sulphide deposits in the world Eagle s Nest has positive project economics and is supported by an independent feasibil ity study The nickel mine will have about 300 hundred permanent people on site at all times and 200 will fy in and fy out and that will mean a work force of 500 people explained Coutts of he employment benefts the Eagle s Nest project would create On the chromite side of things the frst chromite mine will be about 500 metres away from the Eagle s Nest nickel mine so not a lot of new em ployees will be required added Coutts There will be about 100 extra employees There are several reasons why Eagle s Nest will be developed frst It was the initial discovery in the Ring of Fire 2007 and the most advanced de posit with extensive geological work performed over the years In a 2012 a positive feasibility study determined the mine s economic viability based on longterm metal prices estimated capital require ments and operating costs Another important factor is an expect ed rise in nickel demand over the next fve years as electric vehicles EV become more mainstream Nickel is the number one component in EV bat teries and Noront wants to be ready to proft from this high demand A signifcant factor is the existence of two smelting plants in Sudbury for turning the Eagle s Nest ore into nickel and copper The long term future rests with chro mite mining from the several depos its in the Ring of Fire inclu ding the Blackbird one km away from Eagle s Nest and Black Thor 8 km away Black Thor is the lar gest chromite de posit in the Ring of Fire Both were acquired by Noront from Clifs Re sources after it pulled out from the Ring of Fire in 2013 These sites have more than a 100 year potential for chromite mining but there are no ferrochrome smelt ers anywhere in North America The development of a brand new ferro chrome smelter will take time The building the ferrochrome smelt er itself will create 500 construction jobs and about 300 full time employ ees when it is operating Coutts said In the short term Noront will focus on nickel The Eagle s Nest has over 20 million tonnes of measured indi cated and inferred resources contain ing highgrade nickel with signifcant copper palladium and platinum con tent Production at Eagle s Nest will start in about fve years after permit ting is obtaine d and the mine con structed It s estimated Eagle s Nest will generate 150 to 200 million in annual cash fow These funds will be used to develo p the chromit e assets and further explore the Ring of Fire Eagle s Nest will be an under ground mine that is expected to produce 3000 tonnes of ore per day After being pro cessed 150000 to 250000 tonnes of nickelbearing concentrate per year Nor ont looks to mine nickel frst fr om the Ring of Fir e and chr omite later Allan Coutts Nor ont s Pr esident and CEO speaks to a full house at the Canadian Mining Expo 2018 in T immins on June 5 during the Gala Dinner Contd on pg 41 Page 41 will be smelted in Sudbury The mine has an anticipa ted life of 1 1 years with the potential for 9 additional years After input from extensive discus sions Noront has had with local First Nations comm unities Eagle s Nest will have all its tailings remain un der ground in the form of backfll and paste backfll and 100 of process plant water will be recycled to mini mize the dischar ge of efuents Noront Resources has acquired 80 percent of mining rights in the Ring of Fire at properties that contain nickel copper platinum group metals chro mite iron titanium vanadium gold and silver The infrastructure servic ing Eagle s Nest will also serve the development of nearby Blackbird and Black Thor chromite deposits But frst things frst As Coutts says without a road nothing is going to happen A big part of the infrastructure de velopment is roads development and those roads would be the frst all sea son access road to those communities ever Coutts said This is a great op portunity to build industrial and social infrastructure as well After years of lobbying the province to build a road the concept evolved from a mining road to a multipurpose road that would also beneft nearby First Nations with a permanent all season road In August 2017 agree ments were signed with W ebequie and Nibinamik First Nations pledging cooperation to study a multipurpose road corridor connecting the two communities to existing regional in frastructure and potential future de velopments The road would also link to Noront s Eagle s Nest Blackbird and Black Thor holdings The road would connect to provincial highway and rail system at Nakina near the Aroland First Nations On May 31 2018 Marten Falls First Nations issued a statement saying they had signed an agreement with the Ontario government to support a plan to construct a community access road to Marten Falls going south to the ex isting provincial highways This project is an opportunity to move forward on addressing many socio economic needs of the community including access to more afordable food and housing access to training education and employment and ac cess to neighbouring communities W e are active ly lobbying and work ing with aboriginal groups in the province to get roads built into the re gion said Allan Coutts That is the number one priority for us W ithout the r oad nothing happens at Ring of Fir e Contd from pg 40 T otal wat e r solutions f or y our mining oper a tion A t the O n tario C lean W a t er A genc y our e xperienc e w ork ing in mining c ommunities acr oss the pr o vinc e means w e k no w y our business T ha t puts us in a unique position t o suppor t y our en vir onmen tal needs including r egula t or y c omplianc e monit or ing and r epor ting F r om potable w a t er and sew age f or staf housing t o tr ea tmen t of pr oduc tion w ast e t o monit or ing tailings OC W A can tur nkey all aspec ts of y our w a t er and w ast ew a t er tr ea tmen t pr oc ess L ets discuss ho w w e can w or k t ogether t o cr ea t e sustainable w a t er solutions f or y our sit e V isit us a t the Nor th A merica M ining Expo B ooth 111 F or sales enquiries c all 8 0 7 6 2 2 2 4 9 3 o r t o l l f r e e 18006676292 o c w a c o m