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“A lot of the mid-tier and bigger gold companies know the cupboard is bare, that they haven’t been doing a lot of exploration,” Coutts said. “None of them want to fool around with an isolated claim. They want something that’s district scale; I mean something that’s at least 100 kilometres long.”

There is some data to support the idea that gold exploration is becoming more difficult. In May, an S&P Global Market Intelligence report noted a “declining rate of discoveries” even though gold exploration budgets are at near historically high levels.

“Unless discovery rates begin an upswing in the near future, there could be a lack of quality assets available for development in the longer term,” the report said.

Coutts said several gold companies have flown in their geologists to inspect the Ring of Fire property and view Noront’s core shack there, while their executives have been visiting the company’s headquarters in Toronto.

The goal is to strike a deal by summer’s end with a gold-focused company that would fund exploration on Noront-staked land in exchange for an interest in the property, he said.

Although Premier Doug Ford repeatedly criticized the lack of roads in the Ring of Fire during the recent Ontario election, Coutts said the Progressive Conservatives’ win is unlikely to have an immediate impact on the project, since it is about five years away from production.

Coutts estimates it will take two years for an environmental assessment on a road and an additional 2.5 years to build the road, during which time Noront plans to simultaneously begin construction of a nickel mine.

Noront also soon plans to announce where it will base its ferrochrome plant smelter. Four Ontario cities are bidding to host the smelter, including Thunder Bay, Timmins, Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie.

That decision is expected in late July, and any gold joint-venture partnership would be announced after that, Coutts said.

“That road won’t come to fruition for five years, and our mine won’t start producing for five years,” he said, “but in the meantime, there’s all these other steps we can take that are value added.”

Financial Post

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