… this article is courtesy of edgeiejones…

Here you go. This is the main article on Ring of Fire from the Sept Mning Markets Northern Miner Mag. There are a large number of good articles in this issue.

This is hand typed so please excuse any typos etc.

Ring of Fire Becoming BALL OF FIRE

by Virginia Heffernan - Mining Markets Sept 08 pages 13-17

"The Ring of Fire in the McFauld's Lake region of northern Ontario is becoming a great Ball of Fire as junors continue staking the centre of the ring even as investors remain on the sidelines, awaiting further results.

As Noront Resources (NOT.v) marks the first anniversary of its nickel-copper discovery at McFauld's Lake, the area under claim has expanded to cover at least 5,000 sq k.m., making the staking rush the largest in Ontario's history. The amount of money raised for exploration has reached the hundreds of millions of dollars, while the number of juniors working in the area has grown to about 40, up from 26 a month ago.

"The mining world now believes this is an area of consequence and so does the mining supply world", says Kirk McKinnon president of MacDonald Mines (BMK-V), one of the largest landholders in the region next to Noront. Suppliers (including Vancouver-based Matrix Helicopter Solutions, which is building several camps in hte Ring) don't set up shop and cultivate relationships with mining companies if there isn't a critical mass and something of consequence there."

But the mid-summer stock prices of the main players tell a different story: at the end of July 2008, Noront was down almost 60% from a 52-weeek high of $7.42; MacDonald had dropped 80% from $1.32; and Fancamp Exploration (FNC-v) had lost three quarters of its highest value.

Investors are nervous about the lack of infrastructure in the remote area, potenitally tough negotiations with First Nations over land use, and Ontario's recently annouced plan to declare a large swath of Ontario's boreal forest off limits to mining. With little news from the area to counter these uncertainties McFauld's has lost it's mojo.

Ironically, the Toronto Stock Exchange just named Noront, Macdonald and Fancamp the top three companies respectively, in the mining category of the TSXX Venture Index based on a ranking formula that includes revenue return on investment growth in market capitalization, and trading volume 2007.

THe ranking reflects the enormous investor interest that followed Noront's announcement last autumn of some of the higest grade base metal instersections since the Voisey's Bay nickel deposits were discovered in the 1990's.

Juniors could enjoy a similar levels of interest again if summer drilling programs can replicate early results, as many expect they will. At midsummer, there were eight drills operating in the region, a number that is expected to double in the coming months as more juniors mobilize drills to the area. The hit rate on drilling so far has been above 50%, an unusually high number for a grassroots play.

"We'll have 15 rigs drilling over the next month or two, but if the success rate continues, we could have 40 drills going by next year becasue every company will want a drill on their targets," says William White, president of IBK Capital, which has raised $110 million alone for the play, including $80 million for Noront. "We'll have no trouble financing it because until now we have been using hard dollars and there is still the benefit of flow-through money ahead of us".

Since there is very little outcrop in the area, explorers have had to rely on conductors identified by airborne geophysical surveys to identify drill targets. The VTEM ( Versatile Time Domain ElectoMagnetics) technology used to survey the camp is so advanced it can see through 200 metres of overburden and bedrock to acurately detect conductors that may represent metal-bearing sulphides. But the deposits tend to be small and steeply plunging, making them sometimes difficult to pinpoint.

There are three main targets volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS)deposits rich in copper and zinc such as those outlined previous to the Noront discovery; peridotite-hosted magmatic sulphide deposits, such as Eagle One, that contain nickel, copper and platinum group metals; and chromite layers.

Lower down in the system, in the ultramafic rocks, explorers are likely to find nickel and chrome. Higher up in the system, in the volcanic rocks that define the Ring, there is a better chance of finding copper-zinc deposits.

Although none of the discoveries to date are large enough to justify a stand-alone operation in such a remote part of Canada, a growing number of them may eventually provide the critical mass to justify building a mining camp.

The best of the bunch is Noront's Eagle One copper-nickel-platinum group element deposit. An inital resource estimate for the find shows an indicated resource of 1.8 million tones grading 1.96% nickel adn 1.18% coper and inferred resource of 1.1 million tonnes. The resource includes a higher grade core of about 200,000 tonnes grading more than 6.5% nickel.

Spider Resources (SPQ-V), UC Resources(UC-V) and KWG Resources (KWG-V), have also annouced resource estimates for their massive sulphide discoveres to the northest of Eagle One. At a cutof grade of 1.5% copper, McFaulds 1 contains an estimated 279,000 tonnes grading 2.13% copper and o.58% zinc, while McFaulds 3 contains 802,000 tonnes grading 3.75% copper and 1.1% zinc.

Noront is currently investigating a second nickel-copper occurence with an intriguing chrome kicker located 2km soutwest of Eagle One. Two drills continue to intersect mineralization in a shear hosted suplhide setting at Eagle Two as well as layered chromite mineralization.

Another discovery awaiting assay results at press time is that of WSR Gold (WSR-V), Metalex Ventures (TSX-V) and Artic Star Resources (ADD-V), 45 km north of Eagle One.The Trio hit volcanogenic massive sulphides in its first hole and a subsequent hole hit 132 metres of semi-massive to near-massive copper-zinc sulphides.

But as more juniors flock to the area and more drills turn, the potential for conflict with First Nations Groups in the area is growing. There are five native communities in the area - Webique, Marten Falls, Landsdowne House, Attawapiskat and Kasabonica - and some confusion about how far the influence of each community extends.

So far, the companies involved have agreed to minimize airborne surveys and other flying operations during First Nations' wild game harvest in the spring and fall, and provide ongoing consulation. These efforts have gone a long way to smooth relations between the two groups.

"We have worked bery well witht eh companies and there has been a close dialogue with a number of them to addres our concerns and issues with respect to traditional pursuits by our members." says Chief Scott Jacob of the Webique First Nation, " we will play a major role (in the development of the camp) because we are strategically situated in the play and we are already exploring some potential opportunities."

"We've had good discussions with both Webique and Marten falls," concurs Neil Novak, vice-president of corporate and aboriginal affairs for Noront. According to Novak, Webique is proposing to provide fuel to explorers at a lower cost than what they are paying now, while Marten falls is investigating upgrading a winter trail to the community to a winter road, then extending the rad to McFauld's Lake, about 190 km further north.

But MacDonald's McKinnon says recent arrials to the area with little negotiating experience could upset the fine balance, while some of the communities are demaing too much, too early in the exploration game.

Another concern is the Ontario government's decision to protect half of Ontario's boreal forests from resource development so the trees can provide a carbon sink to fight global warming. That represents a huge area - at least 225,000 sq. km.

However, the McFauld's Lake staking - at least within its current limits - appears to fall withint he taiga, the transition zone betwen boreal forest and tundra as defined by the Ontario Ministyr of Natural Resources and therefore would unlikely be subject to the ban.

THe province remains one of the safest places to put exploration dollars. " Ontario is a really great prince to be discovering a major mining camp in terms of political risk, overall infrastructure and the expertise available for this kind of business," says IBK's White.

If a mining camp does evolve at McFauld's Lake insiders say the most likely transportation routes for concentrate would follow winter roads, then paved roads to smelters in either Sudbury (processing nickel and copper) or Timmins (Zinc) or shipped out to foreign markets through the port at Thunder Bay Ontario.

Noront has stated that the high grade core at Eagle One could be direct-shipped without processing potentialy providing enough cash flow to build a concentrator to process the lower-grade ore from the rest of the deposits and other finds.

But if economic deposits start to become a reality, major companies suche as Vale Inco, a subsidiary of Brazil's Vale (RIO-N), or Xstrata (XTA-L) may decide at some stage of the play to step in and buy out the successful explorers.

"We'll continue to be able to finance at higher prices, and eventually a major mining company will come in and buy majority interests in these juniors." says White, without missing a beat. " The infrastructure of the major companies in Sudbury and Timmins needs this kid of feed so you have a market already in place." "