Noront reports new high-grade intervals at Double Eagle

Noront Resources (NOT-V, NOSOF-O) is reporting promising new assay results from its rich nickel-copper find in the remote James Bay region of northern Ontario.

Results from the Eagle One occurrence at Noront’s Double Eagle project, in the McFaulds Lake area, appear to lend weight to the company’s belief that it has stumbled upon what could become the country’s next large base metals camp.

Assays from new drill-hole data indicate high-grade intersections of nickel, copper, platinum and palladium over “impressive widths,” the company said in a press release.

Highlights include hole 14, where 3.6 metres of massive sulphides averaged 3.43% copper, 7.45% nickel, 5 grams platinum per tonne, 9.1 grams palladium and 0.12 gram gold, at depths of between 52.8 and 56.4 metres.

Those intervals were part of a much larger intersection at depths of between 45.9 and 80 metres, which averaged 1.22% copper, 2.28% nickel, 1.6 grams platinum, 4.13 grams palladium and 0.14 gram gold.

The assay results also show a lower-grade zone from 80 to 110 metres, averaging 0.28% copper, 0.59% nickel, 0.37 gram platinum, 1.18 grams palladium and 0.1 gram gold.

Hole 16 encountered a net-textured peridotite section combined with the massive sulphide section over 12.7 metres, between depths of 121.1 and 133.8 metres, averaging 1.55% copper, 2.4% nickel, 2.63 grams platinum, 5.1 grams palladium, 0.12 gram gold and 4.5 grams silver.

That hole also encountered a lower-grade section between 92.9 metres and 121.1 metres at a width of 28.2 metres, averaging 0.5% copper, 0.57% nickel, 0.47 gram platinum, 1.5 grams palladium, 0.17 gram gold and 1.5 grams silver.

Since drilling began on the Eagle One occurrence in late August, Noront has completed 5,047 metres of drilling in 27 diamond-drill holes.

In addition, Noront said preliminary analytical work on selected samples for other platinum group elements suggest that rhodium is also present.

Rhodium “could add significant value to the zone’s resource potential,” Richard Nemis, Noront’s president and chief executive said in a prepared statement.

The price of rhodium has shot up to US$6,725 per oz. on Dec. 12 from US$452 per oz. in January 2004.

Rhodium is a silver-white metallic element and is used as a finish for jewelry, mirrors, and searchlights. It is also used in electric connections and when alloyed with platinum, can be used in aircraft turbine engines. The metal can also be used, together with platinum and palladium, to control exhaust emissions.