http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/1216001.html

A Baddeck native who went down the road to pursue a career in mining is returning home to drum up interest in his company’s Ring of Fire project in northern Ontario.

"It’s a world-class discovery," Wes Hanson, president and CEO of Noront Resources Ltd., said Tuesday from his Toronto office.

Noront Resources holds 30 per cent of the landholdings in the 5,000-square-kilometre Ring of Fire, muskeg swamps 500 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay.

The firm has found significant deposits of nickel, copper and chromite in the remote region.

Chromite, used to manufacture stainless steel, is not produced in North America.

"We believe the nickel and copper can offset the infrastructure costs of developing the Ring of Fire and make chromite viable," said Hanson.

Copper was trading at a record $9,000 a tonne Tuesday.

Hanson joined Noront 18 months ago after working for SNC-Lavalin, Western Goldfields Inc. and Kinross Gold Corp., where he was vice-president and director of technical services for mining developments in Brazil and Russia.

He will be in Halifax on Thursday to meet representatives from government, the mining sector and the investment community to discuss local opportunities related to the Ring of Fire project.

Hanson said there are a number of regional mining supply companies that could participate in the Ring of Fire.

"There are opportunities for Maritime mining support industries in northern Ontario."

Noront has a market capitalization of $250 million. It has spent more than $65 million exploring the Ring of Fire.

Building infrastructure to advance the project is the biggest challenge facing the company, Hanson said.

"We’ve identified several promising targets that could be developed," he said, estimating that commercial production is five or six years away.

"We’re doing engineering and technical work to determine development costs."

Noront is also working with First Nations communities by focusing on education and mining-related job opportunities, he said.

Noront stock was trading for 97 cents a share on the TSX Venture Exchange on Tuesday afternoon, down two cents from its previous close.

( berskine@herald.ca)