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  POINT ROBERTS, WA and DELTA, BC, Jan 29 (MARKET WIRE)
-- 
 www.InvestorIdeas.com, a leading global investor and industry research
resource portal covering mining stocks, reports on  the McFaulds Lake Area, a
highly followed base metal play. The McFaulds "Ring of Fire" will be one of
the plays discussed in the third Investor Ideas online investor mining
conference
to be held February 27, 2008, themed: "The Global Hunt for Commodities -
Finding the Next Big Play in Mining Stocks."

    In a volatile market, investors continue to speculate on one of the
hottestpotential mining plays to come around in a while and the juniors are
liningup to follow the money.

    A growing number of resource companies have joined Noront Resources Ltd
(TSX-V: NOT) in the McFaulds Lake "Ring of Fire" area including :
MacDonaldMines Exploration Ltd. (TSX-V: BMK),   KWG Resources Inc. (Market,
News),
SpiderResources (Market, News) and Hawk Uranium Inc. (TSX-V: HUI).

    Hawk Uranium Inc. (TSX-V: HUI) will be one of many publicly traded mining
companies presenting with leading industry resource experts, in the upcoming
Investorideas.com online investor conference.

    Hawk's President Vance White commented regarding their McFaulds
properties,"We are very pleased to have an opportunity to be part of the
McFaulds 'Ring of
Fire' play by participating with the two major players in the area. We have
had a long standing relationship with the principals of both Noront and
MacDonald. Both companies have excellent management teams and exploration
personnel."

    "I believe that the Noront discovery will become a very significant
discovery and the
McFaulds district; a significant new mining district. This entire play will
evolve
over the next few years. One must remember that this area of Northern Ontario is
a
very under explored area and with the advent of modern geophysical techniques
and equipment a number of new discoveries could well come out of the area.
Also with the construction of the road into the DeBeers Victory diamond mine
one will have greater and easier access to the area."

    Brent Nykoliation, Director of Business Development, MacDonald Mines
Exploration (TSX-V: BMK), noted, "We are very pleased to announce that a
major drill program on MacDonald and Joint Venture ground with Temex Resources,
Baltic Resources and Hawk Uranium will commence in February.  We will be
moving a second drill into the area in early March and anticipate that MacDonald
Mines along with 5 or 6 other companies will be fully engaged in winter/spring
drill programs."

    He went on to say, "We anticipate that the current airborne survey will
produce multiple geophysical targets on both the MacDonald Mines and Joint
Venture ground,  Equally important to note, MacDonald Mines still has very
good targets on the McNugget, Big Mac and the Joint Venture Property with Hawk
Uranium that were identified from its previous airborne survey and still must
be drill tested."

    In any sector -- it's wise to research who is investing the "smart money."
In the
center of this play is IBK Capital Corp. of Toronto, who has provided private
placements for several of the key players, starting with Noront Resources: $35
million, in addition to MacDonald Mines: $10.5 million, Hawk Uranium: $2
million, Spider Resources: $2.76 million and Seafield Resources: $0.85
million. IBK continues to raise funds for other companies active on the Ring.

    According to Michael White, Vice President of IBK Capital, "Noront's Eagle
One
deposit is a world class nickel-copper-platinum-palladium discovery. Results to
date
are very encouraging and warrant substantial follow-up by Noront and others
in this area now dubbed the Ring of Fire. The Ring of Fire is three times
the size of the Sudbury Basin and will require considerable funding for
exploration going forward. The combined budgets of companies exploring on
the ring already total $60 million for 2008 and we believe $250 million will
be spent on exploration over the next five years. We are delighted to be
involved with this world class discovery and pleased to provide investment
banking services to strong management teams committed to the area. To date we
have
raised over $50 million dollars for companies active on the Ring of Fire."

    The Company that made the area known to investors, Noront Resources Ltd., is
also the most aggressive in the area, reports the company.

    According to Noront's President, Richard Nemis,  "Many investors and
MiningAnalysts have indeed compared Noront's Eagle One Nickel-Copper-PGE
discovery to other
significant historical mining plays in Canada, including; Voisey's Bay and
Hemlo.
This project, although only a few months old, has already attracted the
attention of many new investors while rewarding old investors for their support
of Noront over many, many years. The discovery has raised the eyebrows of many
senior explorers that are watching from a distance, the developing
exploration play by many 'Bay Street juniors' as these company's assemble
strategic land positions around the Ring of Fire. This comparison is likely due
to the market attention, as well as the staking rush that has happened over
the past 3 or 4 months in this isolated region of Northern Ontario, however
the comparison is not likely to do with the geology of these two world class
mining projects, as the geology of the Eagle One occurrence is quite
different from that of Hemlo or Voisey's Bay. Eagle One is a magmatic
massive sulphide, bearing some genetic similarities to Voisey's Bay, however,
Eagle One has quite high levels of Platinum and Palladium along with the high
nickel and copper content, the likes of which are not seen in Voisey's Bay
Cu-Ni-Co deposits. Noront would compare the geology and mineralization to that
of
the many Ni-Cu-PGE occurrences and deposits (including Xstrata's Raglan
deposit) in the Ungava Region, Northern Quebec, where similar grades of
these base and precious metals are found."

    "Noront is currently the most aggressive company in the area with respect to
drilling, geophysical surveying, and land acquisition (staking claims and
optioning properties that have been assembled or maintained by other explorers
in the area). Noront is looking at the Double Eagle project as a regional
play, has commenced a region wide airborne survey, the scope of which will
rival those done in the past in the other historical areas mentioned above.
Based upon information from this survey, Noront will be prioritizing
anomalies for ground geophysical and drill test follow-up, starting in early
2008.
The drilling will continue on the Eagle One occurrence and in its immediate
surrounds, until this occurrence is understood well enough to prepare a
preliminary resource estimate. Eagle One will be used as a model by Noront, to
look for other look alikes in the immediate vicinity, and as such, the
detailed geophysical and geochemical signatures from our ground work will be
kept
confidential and in-house. This will provide an exploration advantage to Noront
in
the area over the some of the competition that is new to the area, perhaps
prompting others to join forces (JV) with Noront. Noront anticipates a very
aggressiveexploration campaign throughout 2008 that will hopefully translate
into an
increase in the shareholder value in the company."

    Another name in the "Ring" is Pinetree Capital, (Market, News) who has
purchased shares of several junior mining companies exploring the McFaulds Lake,
including Noront Resources and MacDonald Mines Exploration.

    Other companies with properties in the area include Fancamp Exploration
Ltd., Goldeye
Explorations Limited, 50:50% Joint Venture Partner, Tribute Minerals Inc and
Probe Mines.

    For investors following the McFaulds play, follow the leader, Noront, for
results and follow the money to see if further capital is invested in the
area. Time will tell if this is another historic mining play in Canadian
history.