In reviewing Noront's Feasibility Study (FS) I have come to the conclusion that the mining consultants should have been instructed to consider all possible synergies in the mining of the Eagle`s Nest and the Blackbird chromite in order to make the FS more economically attractive.

The tailings disposal in the FS is based on disposal of the mine tailings in stopes that have been mined in waste rock. The FS shows that approximately 3.65 million tonnes of waste rock over a period of 8 years will need to be mined to create enough void for the mine tailings. The FS states that the Company plans to crush the waste rock on surface, use it for surface infrastructure and sell the remaining. Sell waste rock......why not mine and sell chromite?

In the Noront press release of March 20, 2012 President Wes Hansen is quoted as saying: “The close proximity of Blackbird to our flagship Eagle’s Nest nickel sulphide deposit offers exceptional synergies as both deposits can be exploited using the same underground infrastructure, limiting the incremental capital cost while minimizing the environmental footprint.”

This study attempts to estimate the value of these exceptional synergies. It shows that approximately $12million in additional capital would be required to develop the tailings stopes in the chromite zone rather than the waste rock. The extra capital costs equate to approximately $2.54 per tonne of chromite mined.

It should be noted that since the chromite is much heavier than the waste rock the void created in 3.65 million tonnes of waste rock equates to 4.73 million tonnes of chromite.

The mined chromite would be trucked to surface, loaded in highway haulers and trucked to Nakina where it will be loaded in rail cars and shipped by CN Rail to Sault Ste. Marie (SSM), Ontario where it would be crushed and loaded on boats. My estimates show that this can be done for less than $100/tonne.

An internet search supports the selling value of 40% chromite to be worth $165/tonne. 35% chromite appears to be worth $145/tonne.

Using these numbers the potential gain by mining the chromite instead of waste rock is more than $200 million dollars over the life of the Feasibility Study.

This study shows that Noront should revise their Feasibility Study to include the synergies of mining both the Eagle’s Nest and Blackbird chromite deposits at the same time.

AFS