Overview
Noble Mineral Exploration (TSXV:NOB,FWB:NB7,OTCQB:NLPXF) is a Canadian based junior exploration company with shareholdings in Canada Nickel Company Inc., Spruce Ridge Resources Ltd. and MacDonald Mines Exploration Ltd. Noble also has an interest in:
- the Holdsworth gold exploration property in the Wawa area, Ontario,
- ~36,400ha of mineral rights in the Timmins-Cochrane areas of Northern Ontario known as Project 81, which hosts diversified drill-ready gold, nickel-cobalt and base metal targets at various stages of exploration.
- 50 percent interest in recently acquired claims (~6,600ha) in Carnegie, Prosser, Wark and Kidd Twps (6,600ha),
- an Option on ~4,800ha in Calder Twp,
- an additional ~11,000ha in the Timmins area
- and ~14,400 hectares of mining claims in Central Newfoundland.
- ~14,600ha in the Nagagami Carbonatite Complex near Hearst, Ontario
- ~3,700ha in the Buckingham Graphite Property, Quebec
- ~518ha in the Laverlochere nickel, copper, PGM property, Quebec
- ~482ha in the Cere-Villebon nickel, copper PGM property, Quebec
- option to acquire a 100 percent of 204 claim units (~4,500ha) near Hearst, Northern Ontario - the Boulder Project. A 140kg boulder was found in the area containing significant concentrations of base and precious metals. The significant discovery of the highly mineralized boulder was in an area that has not seen much past exploration. The discovery of the source of the boulder would be an important mineral find.
Noble has been incredibly successful in building a portfolio of securities, royalties and joint venture partners and will continue to build wealth through the project generator model.
Projects currently under development and their affiliated resources:
- Nickel-Cobalt/VMS/Gold in the Timmins-Cochrane area of Northern Ontario, for which it holds the mineral rights;
- Niobium and Rare Earths in the Nagagami River Carbonatite prospect near Hearst in Northern Ontario;
- Copper-PGM in the optioned claim units on the Boulder Project near Hearst in Northern Ontario;
- Graphite on the Buckingham Graphite property in the Outaouais area of Western Quebec;
- Copper-Nickel-PGM on the Cere-Villebon property near Val d’Or, Quebec;
- Nickel-Copper-Cobalt-Gold and PGM on the Laverlochere property near Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec;
- VMS/Copper/Gold in Central Newfoundland
Noble Mineral recently created a pure-play nickel company, Canada Nickel Company, through the repurchase and consolidation of 100 percent of the Crawford nickel sulfide project, a part of Project 81 and vending certain other optioned properties in the Timmins-Cochrane mining camp. Canada Nickel is to be led by Mark Selby, who is expected to be appointed chairman and CEO. Mark Selby was most recently president and CEO of RNC Minerals, where he led the development of the Dumont nickel-cobalt project through to a fully-permitted, construction-ready project. Before RNC Minerals, he held senior management roles at Quadra and Inc. He is recognized as a leading authority on the nickel market.
Noble Mineral acquired approximately 695 mining Naganami claims near Hearst, Ontario. This covers approximately 144 square kilometers (14,400 hectares) and the land falls within the Critical Minerals Directive Issued by the Ontario government. The Nagagami Complex has had little exploration, with one historical example being the Algoma drilling project in the 1960s in search of iron. The company has initiated talks with the Constance Lake First Nation Council on how to proceed with the project.
Noble Mineral has optioned a 100 percent interest in a precious metal prospect positioned in the Way Township, proximal to Hearst, Ontario. It acquired 214 claims by staking, spanning 4,500 hectares. This decision follows the discovery of a 140 kilogram boulder that contained 71.8 percent copper, 353 g/t of silver, 3.79 g/t of gold and 6.65 g/t of platinum group metals.
Noble Mineral has also formed numerous strategic financial and technical partnerships that apply state-of-the-art technology to help identify various types of mineralization. Some of the company’s partners include MacDonald Mines Exploration (TSXV:BMK), a Canadian precious metals explorer, Orix Geoscience, a geological consulting firm, BECI Exploration Consulting, an innovative airborne mineral exploration technology developer, CGG Multiphysics, a fully-integrated geoscience company providing leading geological, geophysical (airborne gravity gradiometer) and reservoir services, , Windfall Geotek to produce artificial intelligence (AI), IBK, as their financial advisor, and Franco-Nevada (TSX:FNV), a net smelter royalty (NSR) holder.
Company Highlights
- Operates under a prospect generator model.
- Wholly-owned 36,400-hectare Project 81 precious, nickel-cobalt and base metal property near Timmins, Ontario.
- Property adjacent to Glencore’s Kidd Creek VMS mine and milling complex.
- MOUs in place with First Nations communities.
- Recently created a pure-play nickel company, Canada Nickel Company with the consolidation of 100 percent of the Crawford nickel sulfide project.
- Follow-up exploration planned in several areas of the project.
- Noble closes acquisition of 50 percent interest in claims in Carnegie, Kidd, Wark and Prosser townships near Timmins, Ontario.
- Noble entered into an acquisition agreement to cover the Nagagami Carbonatite Alkalic Complex, located approximately 65 kilometers northwest of Hearst, Ontario.
- Noble acquired 576 mining claims (14,400ha) in Central Newfoundland
- Noble Mineral entered into a six-party agreement to acquire approximately 695 mining claims near Hearst, Ontario.
- The company recently acquired a precious metal prospect, acquiring 214 claims by staking that span 4,500 hectares in the Way Township after discovering a boulder that contained copper, zinc, gold, and platinum group metals.
Key Projects
Project 81
The Project 81 property spans over 36,400 hectares and is located in the Timmins-Cochrane area of Northern Ontario. It comprises patented mineral rights, in addition to contiguous staked mining claims. The property remains mostly underexplored and is prospective for gold, silver, nickel, cobalt, platinum group metals (PGM), chromium, copper, lead, VMS and zinc deposits.
Project 81 is within three kilometers of Glencore’s Kidd Creek zinc-copper-silver mine complex, 30 kilometers from the Porcupine-Destor main break and within 25 kilometers of the City of Timmins, Ontario. The property is accessible by paved highway and has access to high-voltage transmission lines, hydropower, water, mining personnel and mining service suppliers and contractors.
Crawford Twp
The Crawford nickel sulfide project covers 9,000 hectares of the larger Project 81 property and is approximately 14 kilometers north of the Kidd Creek mine. Noble Mineral recently consolidated the Crawford project into the Canada Nickel Company.
In 2017, Noble Mineral engaged Orix Geoscience to compile the historical data for several sections of Project 81, including the Crawford property. Orix identified several historical drill holes with significant nickel assay results. Drill highlights include 433.4 meters grading 0.25 percent nickel, 236.2 meters grading 0.34 percent nickel and 253.4 meters grading 0.24 percent nickel.
Noble Mineral then completed an airborne magnetic and electromagnetic (EM) survey that displayed strong magnetic anomalies over nickel-bearing bodies on the property. The anomaly has a two-kilometer strike length which could be favorable to large-tonnage, low-grade and near-surface nickel deposits. It could also be amenable to low-cost, open-pit mining methods.
In 2018, Noble Mineral and its joint venture partner completed an airborne gravity gradiometer survey and an artificial intelligence (AI) study over the entire township area, which led to a drill program on the property. Highlights from the program include 291 meters grading 0.29 percent nickel, 118 ppm cobalt, 0.011 g/t platinum, 0.020 palladium and 0.002 g/t gold and 130.5 meters grading 0.30 percent nickel, 140 ppm cobalt, 0.03 g/t platinum, 0.055 palladium and 0.006 g/t gold and 196.5 meters grading 0.33 percent nickel, 135 ppm cobalt, 0.010 g/t platinum, 0.027 g/t palladium and 0.002 g/t gold.
In 2019, Canada Nickel released the results of its mineralogical studies which sought to determine if nickel occurs in the sulfide state and if it could be economically extracted. 12 samples were tested and found that most of the mineralization is contained in nickel sulfides. Noble Mineral intends to follow up on these results with metallurgical testing.
Noble Mineral completed the project property transfer to Canada Nickel in December 2019.
Canada Nickel recently released updated total M&I resources more than doubled to 1.43 billion tonnes at 0.24% nickel and Inferred resource was 0.67 billion tonnes at 0.23% nickel (see Table 1). The East Zone M&I resource increased by more than 14-fold to 701 Mt at 0.23% nickel and the Main Zone resource increased by 17% to 724 Mt at 0.25% nickel. With 3.48 Mt of contained nickel in M&I resources, the company believes Crawford has the fifth largest contained nickel sulphide resource globally. M&I resources also include 93.9 Mt of iron, 8.5 Mt of chromium, 183 kt of cobalt, and 1.06 million ounces of palladium + platinum.
This updated resource is based on a combined total of 113 drillholes and 56,286 metres of drilling. Consistent with previously reported resources, a cut-off grade of 0.15% nickel was used in the Mineral Resource Estimate. Higher grade-Lower grade, and block model views of the resource estimate are provided in Figures 2 and 3 below. Sixty percent of assays from 54 additional exploration drillholes in the East and Main Zone that had not yet been received as of the resource cutoff date will be subsequently incorporated into the final feasibility study resource. Given the focus on the Main and East Zone as resources for this phase of the feasibility study, resources for North Zone (15 drill holes) and Western Extension (38 drill holes) are expected to be completed later this year and incorporated into the final feasibility study.
A higher-grade area to the north of the structure was defined across a one-kilometer strike length. The company intersected 390 meters grading 0.27 percent nickel, 0.01 percent cobalt, including 134 meters grading 0.36 percent nickel, 0.02 percent cobalt and 0.09 g/t platinum and palladium. The structure remains open to the north, west and at depth.
Canada Nickel has recently announced an upgraded NI 43-101 resources estimate and should release an initial Feasibility Study in late 2022
Lucas Twp
Between the 1960s and 1980s, drilling and exploration were conducted at the Lucas gold project. No significant exploration work, however, has been completed on the property since the 1980s. Historic (non-NI 43-101 compliant) drill highlights include 9.14 meters grading 3.14 g/t gold and 8.84 meters grading 3.5 g/t gold. The project also has six discrete parallel induced polarization (IP) anomalous trends that require follow-up exploration.
In 2012 and 2018, Noble Mineral completed airborne electromagnetic and magnetic geophysical surveys on the property. The surveys outlined an anomalous gold trend that was followed up with a 3,184-meter drill program over 650 meters of the 1,700-meter strike length. Highlights from the 2018 drill program include five meters grading 1.42 g/t gold and 9.5 meters grading 1.84 g/t gold.
The company believes that the gold mineralization at Lucas is structurally controlled and occurs as discrete lenses stacked within the pyrite-gold mineralized tuff unit. Noble Mineral intends to conduct follow-up drilling during future work programs.
Kingsmill Twp
The 10,000-hectare Kingsmill property hosts a nickel-cobalt deposit with a strike length of 2,500 meters, a width between 400 meters and 800 meters and a depth of over 600 meters. The deposit has an average grade of 0.25 percent nickel and 113 ppm cobalt.
In 2012, Noble Mineral completed airborne electromagnetic and magnetic geophysical surveys on the property which were followed by a 4,922-meter drill program. Highlights from the program include 114.2 meters grading up to 0.25 percent nickel and 437.6 meters grading up to 0.28 percent nickel.
Preliminary metallurgical studies have also been conducted on the drill core samples. In 2018, a peroxide fusion analysis was performed on 32 samples from the 2012 drill program to evaluate and compare the cobalt grade of the deposit.
The Kingsmill project has been sold to Canada Nickel.
Carnegie Twp
Noble Mineral also has signed an option and joint venture agreement with a group of private investors for 2,000 hectares and a 51 percent interest in the Carnegie project. In 2017, the joint venture completed 2,100-line-kilometers of airborne electromagnetic and magnetic surveys over the property, an airborne gravity gradiometer survey and an AI study over the entire 10,000-hectare township.
During the company’s JV Partner 2019 winter drill program, Noble Mineral
intersected 12 meters of zinc mineralization with some sections that graded greater than one percent zinc. Another hole encountered up to 18 meters of massive to semi-massive sulfide that contained anomalous and low-grade zinc.
Mahaffy Twp
The 4,855-hectare Mahaffy township project is approximately 20 kilometers northwest of the Kidd Creek mine. The work completed on the project includes airborne electromagnetic and magnetic geophysical surveys as well as an airTEM survey. The airTEM survey displayed a strong magnetic body that strikes east-southeast for seven kilometers.
There are also two EM conductor trends on the property that occur near, but not within, magnetic features. Noble Mineral believes that the trends are altered structures that could host gold, nickel, copper and PGEs. Noble Mineral plans to follow up on these trends with a drill program in the upcoming work season.
The Mahaffy Project has been sold to Canada Nickel with Noble retaining a 2% NSR subject to a graduated buyback as to 50%.
Calder, Lennox and Bradburn Twps
The 2,400-hectare Lennox project and 8,300-hectare Calder and Bradburn projects are approximately 33 kilometers north of the Kidd Creek mine. Modern airborne electromagnetic and magnetic geophysical surveys were completed on the properties in 2012. Follow-up orientation and definition airborne magnetic and EM surveys were completed in 2017.
Noble Mineral has identified several drill-ready targets within the Calder, Lennox and Bradburn townships. The first target is a copper-gold-silver target with a 900-meter strike length, residing in the Calder township. The second target is in Lennox township and is a 1,700-meter trend that has seen limited historical exploration. In the 1960s, Inco drilled 13.4 meters grading 0.24 percent copper. The third target is a 400-meter VMS copper-lead-zinc trend in Bradburn township. Bradburn also hosts what Noble Mineral believes is the faulted extension of the Kingsmill nickel deposit.
The Calder Bradburn Project has been sold to Canada Nickel with Noble retaining a 2% NSR subject to a graduated buyback as to 50%.
MacDiarmid Twp
The 3,681-hectare MacDiarmid property is 10 kilometers west of the Kidd Creek mine. In 2018, an airborne electromagnetic and magnetic geophysical survey was completed on the property. The survey outlined a well-developed EM magnetic feature with a 2.5-kilometer strike length that appears to be dipping steeply to the south. Noble Mineral intends to conduct follow up drilling on the property in the near term.
The MacDiarmid Project has been sold to Canada Nickel with Noble retaining a 2% NSR subject to a graduated buyback as to 50%.
Nagagami River Project
Noble Minerals (
TSXV:NOB) recently acquired an estimated 14,607 hectares, including 695 mining claims, in the Nagagami River area. The carbonatite alkalic complex is positioned approximately 65 kilometers northwest of Hearst, Ontario. Project perspectives are based on magnetic study of the Nagagami land relative to the Niobec mine in Quebec. These geologically similar areas indicate donut-shaped structures with syenitic rocks forming the circular magnetic high, with carbonatitic rocks forming the central magnetic low where niobium and other rare earth mineralization is hosted.
Boulder Project
- Noble Minerals has acquired a Copper-Precious Metal Prospect near Hearst, Northern Ontario. The Company has optioned to acquire a 100% interest in 204 claim unitsin Way Twps. The claims extend from about 4 to 15km southwest of the town of Hearst. The staked area is equivalent to approximately 4,500 hectares.
- A 140kg boulder was found in the area containing significant concentrations of base and precious metals, upon which on an analysis, conducted in 2019 by the Ontario Geological Survey, determined that the boulder contained: 71.8% copper; 3.5% lead, 1.09% zinc; 252 g/T of silver, 3.79 g/T of gold; 4.43 g/T of palladium; and 2.22 g/T of platinum and consisted primarily of the mineral cuprite.
- The significant discovery of the highly mineralized boulder was in an area that has not seen much past exploration. The discovery of the source of the boulder would be an important mineral find. Even a small deposit of this material would be extremely valuable at current metal prices.
- During the Fall of 2021 Noble launched an exploration program on the property to in an effort to identify the source of the boulder. Work will continue during the 2022 field season including a helicopter airborne survey, glacial till investigations and diamond drilling, to establish the source of the boulder.
Buckingham Graphite Project
Noble acquired additional claims in the vicinity of the Buckingham Graphite Property which is located in the Outaouais area of the Grenville Subprovince of Quebec (See Noble Press Release dated June 21, 2021). The addition of the 2 map-staked claims brings the Buckingham Property total to 62 claims (3,726 hectares).
- A 1 km long, airborne, electromagnetic anomaly indicating potential graphite mineralization
- Channel samples yielding 21.6% Cg (total carbon in graphite form) over 14.5* meters and grab samples of 36% and 68% Cg
- Drill intersections with up to 17.9% Cg over 7* meters and 17.7% over 8* meters
- Bulk sample testing with head grade of 20.7% Cg that yielded an overall combined flotation concentrate purity of 94.8% with 32% of the flakes classified as large (+65 mesh) to jumbo (+28 mesh)
Island Pond Project
The property, known as Island Pond, is located within an area of Central Newfoundland that is geologically mapped as a single unit of Cambrian-Ordovician siliclastic sediments trapped between a series of non-magnetic Devonian Plutons to the west and southeast. The plutons themselves are not considered to be of exploration interest but they could have altered the rocks around them. From the regional magnetic data, a strong magnetic trend exists within the siliclastics that is interpreted to be an unmapped volcanic intrusion.
Island Pond is contiguous to Spruce Ridge’s recently staked Foggy Pond Property (see Spruce Ridge press release Dec-22-2021) and is located 14 km northwest of Spruce Ridge’s South Pond gold-copper discovery and 56 km southeast of the historic Buchans high-grade zinc mine.
Moving forward
Management Team
Vance White - President, CEO and Director
Vance White has served as president and director of the company since 2003. He has been actively involved in the mineral exploration and production industry for over 50 years. White has also served as director and officer of several other reporting issuers, including Dickenson Mines, now Goldcorp/Newmont. He was also the founder of AfriOre, now owned by Lonmin.
Robert Suttie - CFO
Robert Suttie currently works with Marrelli Support Services as its vice president. He possesses over 20 years of experience, 10 of which were in public accounting prior to his tenure with the Marrelli organization. He specialized in management advisory services, accounting and the financial disclosure needs of Marrelli’s public client base. Suttie also serves as CFO for a number of other junior mining companies listed on the TSX and TSXV, leveraging his skills and experience to become integral to the reporting issuers.
Wayne Holmstead – Exploration Manager
Wayne Holmstead (B.Sc, P.Geo) brings Noble Mineral Exploration 40+ years of exploration experience in Ontario and Quebec. He is a P.Geo who graduated from the University of Toronto. Holding positions of President, Vice President Exploration, Exploration Manager and Director for various Junior Mining companies over the years and he has directed all aspects of mineral exploration in Canada.
Selected Accomplishments include:
Co-discovered and arranged financing for the MacLeod Lake Cu Mo Au Ag deposit in James Bay, Quebec. Later work outlined 18M tonnes of copper, molybdenum, gold, and silver in the Main Zone. Discovered the South Zone and Rocky Point Zone at Macleod Lake through Boulder Tracing and Beep Mat Prospecting.
Denis Frawley - Corporate Secretary
Denis Frawley is a corporate and securities lawyer at Ormston List Frawley LLP, where he has been practicing since 2006. He regularly advises companies involved in the mineral resource exploration and mining industries on matters related to corporate law, securities law, corporate governance and related areas. Frawley also routinely advises private and public companies on financings, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and general commercial and business matters. In addition, as part of his practice advising public companies, he frequently advises on reverse takeovers and other transformative transactions.
Prior to founding Ormston List Frawley LLP, Frawley was a partner in Toronto at another leading Canadian law firm. He received his bachelors of common and civil law degrees from McGill University and his Bachelor of Social Science in economics from the University of Ottawa. He is permitted to practice in Ontario and New York.
Birks Bovaird - Director
For a majority of his career, Birks Bovaird’s focus has been on the provision and implementation of corporate financial consulting and strategic planning services. He was previously the vice president of corporate finance for one of Canada’s major accounting firms. He presently is the Chairman of Energy Fuels Inc., a premier US-based integrated uranium miner listed on the TSX and NYSE. Bovaird is Chairman of GTA Resources and Mining as well as a member of the audit committee. He has previously been involved with numerous public resource companies, both as a member of management and as a director. He is a graduate of the Canadian Director Education Program and holds the Institute of Corporate Directors ICD.D designation.
Michael C. Newbury - Director
Michael Newbury is a professional engineer, banker and project finance specialist with over 30 years experience in the operation, financing and evaluation of natural resource projects. Newbury’s mining and technical expertise, as well as financial and engineering capabilities, enable the evaluation, assessment , development and operational plans and financial structures that manage project risk, minimize equity requirements and maximize shareholder value.
Newbury has a bachelor’s of science from McGill University, managed Barclays Bank’s World Mining Group and the Credit Suisse Corporate Banking Group. He was one of the initial partners in Endeavour Financial and provided his technical expertise to that group for over 10 years. He has extensive experience in the evaluation and financial structuring of natural resource projects in emerging market countries including Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, South Africa, China and Venezuela, now Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. Currently, he operates as an independent consultant and is on the Boards of a number of junior mining companies. He is Noble Mineral Exploration’s designated qualified person (QP) for geological reporting.
Yvan Champagne - Director
As the president of Blue Source Canada, the largest developer and marketer of projects to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) in Canada, Yvan Champagne oversees project sourcing, offset sales, brokerage and advisory services for the Canadian market. An experienced leader and entrepreneur in carbon markets, Champagne has a great passion for and understanding of environmental technologies and GHG-reduction projects.
His broad experience includes GHG project screening, assessment and contracting, advising companies and organizations across Canada on sustainable environmental strategies and programs. Champagne brings expertise in government relations, consulting in the energy sector, public affairs and marketing, and growing companies in new markets. Champagne obtained his bachelor’s of arts in political science from Yale University with a focus on environmental policy and business-government relations. He is also a graduate of the Kellogg-Schulich Executive MBA program.
Dr. Samuel Peralta, PhD - Director
Dr. Samuel Peralta has 35 years of business experience in the energy and technology sectors, overseeing business development, product and process innovation and corporate transformation. He holds a PhD in physics, with industry background in energy, mobile platforms and digital media, advanced sensors and semiconductors. Currently, he is CEO of Windrift Bay, which develops and manages a portfolio of technology and media properties. He was previously director of business and corporate development at Kinectrics, overseeing $70 million annually in high-tech programs for the energy industry.
Previously, he was CEO of Qvadis, a smartphone software provider and CTO for OH Solar, a photovoltaic firm based on an acquisition from Texas Instruments. Dr. Peralta served in key positions at Ontario Power Generation and the Ontario Laser and Lightwave Research Centre. He has served on the board of directors of public, private and non-profit firms, with committee leadership in governance, finance and audit, and special projects including mergers and acquisitions. Dr. Peralta served on the boards of Qvadis, Envergence, OPEL Solar, Axiom NDT, POET Technologies and the Organization of Canadian Nuclear Industries. He is currently sitting on the boards of Cobalt Blockchain, Noble Mineral Exploration and Windrift Bay.
Stephen Balch – Special Advisor
Stephen Balch, professional geologist, has over 30 years of experience in mineral exploration as an exploration geophysicist. He is one of Canada’s leading experts on geophysical techniques used to identify nickel-copper sulfide and platinum-group-metal targets. Since 2010, he has served as president and a director of Triumph Instruments, a company that conducts airborne time-domain electromagnetic surveys in North America, China and Mexico.
Since 2001, he has been president of Balch Exploration Consulting, a company that provides consulting services to major mining and junior exploration companies. From 2007 to 2015, Balch served as the president and a director of Canadian Mining Geophysics, a geophysical data recording company. He currently serves as VP Exploration for Canada Nickel.
Dr Ed van Hees – Consultant
Dr. Ed van Hees is a registered professional geoscientist with over 40 years of domestic and international experience working in, exploring for, and doing research on the origin and geochemistry of Orogenic gold deposits. He has worked as an exploration field geologist, mine geologist, exploration manager, consulting geologist, research scientist and professor of geology. Most recently, Dr. van Hees was employed as the Regional Resident Geologist responsible for the Timmins and Sault Ste Marie Mining Districts with the Ontario Geological Survey Resident Geology Program. Here he supervised the professional staff and authored / co-authored 7 Annual Reports of Activity and 10 Recommendations for Exploration between 2016 and 2020. Starting in 2019 he was employed as a professor for the Haileybury School of Mines where he has taught and helped develop seven geology, geochemistry, geophysics and environmental courses. From 2001 to 2015, Dr. van Hees was a professor of geology at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, where taught core geology courses including Mineralogy, Petrology, Structural Geology and Exploration / Economic Geology, as well as conducting research on the geochemistry and structural geology of Orogenic gold deposits, and the geochemistry of metal pollution. In total he has authored/co-authored 36 publications.
