Noront’s drilling cuts zinc zones at Hurdman Twp.

Noront Resources (VSE) says it has pulled one of the most significant zinc intersections yet reported in the immediate area north of Falconbridge’s Kidd Creek, Ont., copper-zinc mine.

Noront says one of four holes drilled on its Hurdman Twp. property, 62 miles north of Kidd Creek, intersected 127 ft. of grade 1.91% zinc in a new zone at a depth of about 195-322 ft. below surface.

Under an agreement with prospector Don McKinnon, Noront can earn a 60% interest in the 67-claim Hurdman Twp. project by spending $400,000 on exploration over four years.

While the market hasn’t reacted to the discovery, Noront President Richard Nemis is encouraged by the intercept because it was located 100 ft. from where Noranda (TSE) hit 37.7 ft. of 2.41% zinc while drilling 10 years ago. He believes the Noront intercept, reported in hole 3, represents a strike extension of a mineralized zone intersected by the first of four holes completed to date.

Hole 1, 400 ft. east of hole 3, hit 44.3 ft. of grade 2.41% zinc at a depth of 212.6-256.9 ft. and included 5.9% zinc over 10.8 ft. Geologist Bruce Durham, who is acting as a consultant to Noront, believes Noranda couldn’t establish continuity because it thought zinc mineralization occurred in a shallowly dipping massive sulphide zone.

Noront is testing a theory that zinc mineralization occurs in a more steeply dipping stratabound zone and when exploration resumes it plans to drill at angles of 40-50.

The company says mineralized zones are comprised of non-conductive, discrete sections of disseminated to near-massive coarse grained sphalerite containing little or no pyrite or pyrrhotite. The other two holes tested separate ground geophysical anomalies and returned values as high as 2.48% zinc, 3.67 oz. silver and 0.08 oz. gold.

When contacted by The Northern Miner, Timmins resident geologist Lorne Luhta said it is still much too early to determine how significant the results from Hurdman Twp. will turn out to be. He said the terrain is highly metamorphic and quite different from the geological environment that gave rise to the Kidd Creek mine. “It’s not your typical greenstone area, that’s for sure,” he said.

Having staked another 167 claims in the immediate vicinity of the discovery, Noront is planning to carry out a detailed ground geophysical survey over the entire Hurdman property. Further drilling is planned by Noront, which trades at 21 cents in a 52-week range of 42-4 cents.