Excerpts from Noront MD and AA little something to show who controls what at the moment in the ring from excerpts from noronts latest Management Discussions and Analysis. Look for the parts where Noront owns 96% of the chromite in the ring and is in negotiations to finalize a Memorandum of Understanding with the pertinent native bands to formalize a partnership and where the debt to RCF has been extinguished with shares. Also updates about the road Noront will use to move nickle and chromite they say they will sell to America and if the price is right to China and Europe.---------------------------
COMPANY OVERVIEW Noront is engaged in the development, exploration and acquisition of properties prospective in base and precious metals, including nickel, copper, zinc, platinum group elements (“PGE’s”), chromite, iron, titanium, vanadium, gold and silver. The Company is currently focused on the development of its 100% owned Eagle’s Nest deposit, a high-grade nickel, copper, platinum and palladium deposit located in the James Bay Lowlands of Ontario (the “Eagle’s Nest Project”), within a geological feature commonly referred to as the “Ring of Fire”. On September 5th, 2012, the Company released the Feasibility Study on the Eagle’s Nest project demonstrating positive economic returns. The Company has 100% ownership of the most significant chromite resources in the Ring of Fire including the Black Thor chromite deposit and the Blackbird chromite deposit as well as a 100% interest in the Black Label chromite deposit and a 70% interest in the Big Daddy chromite deposit. The Company has extensive copper-zinc holdings including an 86.1% interest in the McFaulds Lake copperzinc deposits/occurrences and a 75% interest in the Butler properties copper-zinc occurrences. As well the company has a 100% interest in two nickel-copper-platinum group metal discoveries known as “Eagle Two” and “Blue Jay”; an iron-vanadium-titanium discovery known as “Thunderbird”; a shear-hosted gold occurrence called “Triple J”, the prospective Victory nickel property, gold exploration targets and other diamond exploration properties. Noront now holds interest, mineral, and exploration rights to approximately 156,450 hectares of ground in Ontario and 3,395 hectares in New Brunswick. In New Brunswick, Noront holds a 42% interest in the Burnt Hill tin-tungsten-molybdenum property. OBJECTIVES The Company’s primary objectives for fiscal 2021 are: • Support the First Nation proponents of the north-south all-season access road to the Ring of Fire project (the “North-South Road”) and assist in obtaining public commitments to infrastructure funding from the provincial and federal governments; • Advance the Eagle’s Nest project towards a construction decision. Initiate aspects of the update to the Eagle’s Nest Feasibility Study focusing on a revised project description, metallurgical test work and restructuring the Environmental Assessment to remove the road from the project terms of reference; • Conclude and sign a memorandum of understanding with the primary First Nation communities in the Company’s project area in support of the Eagle’s Nest Project, which would ultimately lead to a partnership agreement; • Provide input and materials to inform the various environmental assessments in support of the North-South Road and the federal regional assessment; • Continue an active exploration program on the highly prospective Ring of Fire properties that the Company has assembled, focusing on nickel, copper-zinc, chromite, gold and other minerals that will be key to a decarbonized future. 6 STRATEGY Ring of Fire Regional Development The critical enabler to develop the Ring of Fire is the construction of an all-season access road to the region. The Company’s strategy is to work with the both the provincial and federal governments and local First Nations to align the needs of both social and industrial infrastructure. In this regard, the Company fully supports the Environmental Assessments (EA) driven by First Nation Proponents for the access roads in the region. Ring of Fire Road Map All sections of the Ring of Fire access road are progressing through the Provincial Environmental Assessment (EA) process. The EA on the Marten Falls and Webequie sections of the road were initiated in May 2019; both roads have received tailored impact statement guidelines from the federal government and have submitted their terms of reference to the provincial government. The southernmost road section from Nakina to Aroland First Nation has been upgraded and the road section from Aroland to Painter Lake is an upgrade of an existing forestry road, which is planned to be advanced under an expedited Class EA. The Government of Ontario, MFFN and WFN signed an agreement to advance the development of the road section from Marten Falls First Nation to the Ring of Fire and announced the signing at a joint news conference on March 2, 2020 (the “Northern Link”). The EA on the Northern Link has been initiated and it is expected that the terms of reference will be submitted on this section by the end of the year. Ring of Fire Nickel Project The Company’s first planned project is its 100% owned Eagle’s Nest nickel, copper, platinum and palladium deposit. A three thousand tonne per day underground operation is planned that will produce mineral concentrates to be processed in traditional smelters or that may be suitable to leaching processes to serve the battery chemicals market. In order to advance this project to a construction ready state, the Company will need to update its 2012 Feasibility study and reinitiate the EA process. Management anticipates, once started, this pre-construction permitting, and technical evaluation will take approximately two years. Ring of Fire Chromite Projects The Company has a controlling interest in 96% of the known Chromite resources in the Ring of Fire that have NI 43-101 measured and indicated resources. The Company believes its chromite resources are of sufficient size to support mining in the region over several decades. The Company’s chromite strategy is to initially develop its Blackbird chromite deposit, which is proximal to the Eagle’s Nest deposit and can therefore share the same surface infrastructure thus reducing the capital cost of this development. 7 The Company is planning on mining high-grade chrome ore and direct shipping the material to a yet to be constructed Ferrochrome Production Facility (FPF) built by Noront in northern Ontario. The upgrading of chrome ore to ferrochrome is required to serve the North American market since there are no existing ferrochrome smelters in North America. The Company selected Sault Ste. Marie for the site of its Ferrochrome Processing Facility and signed an agreement dated September 11, 2019 with Algoma Steel Inc. (Algoma) to secure the site adjacent to their property. As part of this agreement, the Company has a five-year option to enter into a 99-year lease with Algoma. First Nation Relations The Company is working with the primary First Nation communities on the Environmental Assessments on the road projects and has entered a project advancement and a memorandum of understanding with Marten Falls First Nation and Aroland First Nation, respectively. Both communities are Noront shareholders. The Company is in discussions with Webequie First Nation regarding the conclusion of a process MOU which will define the process for negotiating a formal partnership agreement. Noront preferentially engages local First Nation people to staff its on-going exploration programs. Over the past five years, more than 60% of all workers have come from these communities. SIGNIFICANT EVENTS Response to COVID-19 In April 2020, the Company closed its remote Esker Site in the Ring of Fire in an effort to curtail the possible spread of the COVID-19 virus. This was a necessary precaution to help protect the health and well-being of our employees and the communities surrounding our operations. The logistics of flying in and out of Esker Site would make it difficult to contain a virus outbreak were it to occur. The Company also recognized that there are vulnerable people living in the remote communities our workers return to at the end of their shift and closing Esker site would help keep those community members safe. In August and September, the Company re-opened its Esker Site to execute a summer field exploration program. Strict protocols were put in place for all personnel travelling to Esker Site to ensure workers were symptom-free and low risk. There were no health related incidents. Corporate On December 7, 2020, the Company announced that Wyloo Metals Pty Ltd. ("Wyloo Metals") entered into an agreement to acquire the beneficial equity and debt interests previously held by Resource Capital Fund V L.P. Subsequent to the year-end the third party transaction between Wyloo and RCF closed. Wyloo Metals is the mining division of Tattarang, one of Australia’s largest private investment groups. Wyloo views their Noront acquisition as a long term, strategic investment aimed at supporting the discovery and development of the next generation of mines required to meet the growing demand of critical minerals needed to power the de-carbonization of the global economy. The company works closely with all stakeholders to accelerate projects through the development cycle while meeting the highest international environmental, social and governance standards. Ring of Fire Development On March 2, 2020, the Government of Ontario, MFFN and Webequie First Nation (WFN) announced a Memorandum of Agreement between the parties to advance the last section of the all-season access road, which will connect the Ring of Fire to Webequie First Nation to the West and to the Marten Falls First Nation access road to the south (the “Northern Link”). Once complete the access road will connect the Ring of Fire to the provincial highway network. The terms of reference were submitted for the sections of the North-South Road which MFFN and WFN are the proponents. As well, during the year, the proponents of the Northern Link, Webequie First Nation and Marten Falls First Nation completed a Request for Proposal process for the Environmental Assessment work on that stretch of the road. SNC Lavalin and Dillon Consulting were selected as the successful parties. 8 Noront has reinitiated its environmental assessment planning now that the North-South Road is progressing through the permitting process. Noront is submitting a request for the access road to be excluded and for an adjusted Terms of Reference to be issued by the Province of Ontario since an all-season access road was originally part of the Eagle’s Nest Terms of Reference. Exploration Eagle’s Nest Metallurgical Test Work Early in the year the company drilled four metallurgical drill holes (642m) at Eagle’s Nest designed to acquire additional mineralized material from the upper and lower domains for future variability testing. Collected sample material was sent to XPS in Sudbury, ON. In addition, eight exploratory drill holes (466m) in the vicinity of the Eagle’s Nest deposit were also completed prior to shutting down Esker site in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Metallurgical testing of Eagle’s Nest sulfides was performed by XPS during the year with the goal of ascertaining the viability of producing separate nickel and copper concentrates. Test work has been highly encouraging, with separate nickel and copper concentrates showing good overall recoveries and marketable specifications. Future work will include continuous pilot plant testing with XPS to better refine the process flow-sheet. Blackbird Geological Modelling The geology team completed a revised 3D geological model of the Blackbird deposit in the first half of the year, based on review of existing drill core and additional geochemical data collection by XRF. The modeling work demonstrated the continuity of the ore body and confirmed the Company’s mining approach while geochemical test work demonstrated the fundamental similarity to Black Thor and the read-across applicability of Black Thor metallurgical test work to our processing plans. Nikka NI 43-101 Resource Estimate On May 11th 2020, the Company released a maiden 43-101 compliant resource estimate for the Nikka Cu-Zn VMS deposit on the McFaulds property. The Nikka deposit contains 0.85Mt of Indicated resources grading 2.92% Cu, 1.67% Zn, 8.33 g/t Ag and Inferred resources totaling 4.0Mt at 2.1% Cu, 1.4% Zn and 5.8 g/t Ag.within three separate sulfide lenses (No.1, No.3 and No.8) over a strike distance of 1.5km. Additional targets remain to be tested on the McFaulds property, including a significant gravity anomaly at depth between the No.1 and No.8 sulfide lenses. Gold Exploration The Company completed its first ever gold-focused soil sampling program in the Ring of Fire this summer. Samples were collected in two areas considered highly prospective for bedrock gold mineralization, including the Webequie Shear Zone (WSZ) and Thunderbird Fault. Results are encouraging with soil anomalies identified over known gold occurrences at Triple-J and AT4, and new anomalies identified throughout WSZ grid and along the Thunderbird Fault. With a proven geochemical tool to aid in early screening of gold target areas, the Company plans on executing more soil sampling over prospective structures throughout the Ring of Fire. Nickel Exploration The company completed a 543 line-km VTEM-plus airborne EM survey over the recently staked Victory nickel target in the 3rd quarter. The survey was designed to test for possible magmatic nickel sulfide mineralization associated with a large magnetic anomaly measuring 3 km long by 1 km wide and believed to be an ultramafic body. Several low-conductance EM anomalies were identified associated with pronounced magnetic anomalies in the survey which warrant follow-up ground geophysical surveys to identify drill targets. Other Significant Events Pursuant to the loan agreement entered into between Noront and RCF (a major shareholder and related party with a 22.6% ownership position in the Company), dated February 26, 2013, the Company has satisfied the payment of interest for fiscal 2020 by delivery of the following common shares of the Company (the “Interest Shares”): a) 2,750,856 Interest Shares to RCF on April 13, 2020, at an effective price of $0.1542 per Interest Share. 9 b) 2,628,618 Interest Shares to RCF on July 10, 2020, at an effective price of $0.1563 per Interest Share. c) 2,308,966 Interest Shares to RCF on October 16, 2020, at an effective price of $0.1741 per Interest Share d) 1,994,257 Interest Shares to RCF on January 14, 2021, at an effective price of $0.1919 per Interest Share EAGLE’S NEST The Company completed a Feasibility Study in accordance with the requirements of NI 43-101, with an effective date of September 4, 2012, by Independent Consultants1 under the supervision of Micon International. In accordance with NI 43-101 the Company classifies the Eagle’s Nest Deposit as a reserve and resource. The feasibility study entitled “NI 43-101 Technical Report – Feasibility Study – McFaulds Lake Property, Eagle’s Nest Project, James Bay Lowlands, Ontario, Canada” is available on www.sedar.com. The Feasibility Study is based on annual production of approximately 150,000 tonnes of high grade nickel-copper concentrate containing approximately 34 million pounds (15 thousand tonnes) of nickel, 19 million pounds (8.5 thousand tonnes) of copper, 23 thousand ounces of platinum and 89 thousand ounces of palladium with estimated operating costs (including road access fees) of $97 per tonne. The mineral reserves support a mine life of 11 years mining one million tonnes of ore per annum. In addition to the reserves, there is an inferred resource totaling 9.0Mt. Given the high-grade nature of the Eagle’s Nest deposit and significant by-products of copper, platinum and palladium, the Company anticipates that Eagle’s Nest, once in production, will be one of the lowest cost nickel sulphide mines in the world. The Company plans to update a portion of its Feasibility Study in 2021 and complete project permitting once the necessary financing is arranged. Management has identified certain opportunities to reduce the capital cost related to the mine and mill project including putting the process plant on surface as opposed to underground and simplifications to the mine design. Eagle’s Nest has the following royalty obligations: • a 1% Net Smelter Royalty (NSR) which may be purchased by the Company at any time upon payment of the sum of $500,000 and/or at the Company’s option, issuance of an equivalent number of commons shares of the Company; • a separate 1% NSR held by RCF; and • a 1% Gross Revenue Royalty (GSR) held by Franco-Nevada 1 The feasibility study was completed by Micon International and included technical input from: Tetra Tech WEI, Cementation Canada Ltd., Knight Piesold Ltd., Penguin ASI, SGS Canada Inc., Outotec, Ausenco, Nuna Logistics, and Golder Associates.