Hope you don't mind if I respond to this; I am sure johndefur will jump in he feels I have missed something.

I had a discussion with Mr. Graham at Noront a while back, and my understanding of their strategy at that time was they intended to identify surface-mineable deposits first. These deposits are somewhat more valuable - since surface mines are cheaper to build and operate than underground mines. Surface deposits are also quicker to define - since drill holes are shallower; easier to define - since it becomes progressively more difficult to hit a mineralised zone with deeper deposits; and cheaper to define.

It was also my understanding that Noront intended to return to Eagle One and continue drilling at depth at some point in the future, because Eagle One is known to be open at depth. They just believed they could get faster payback by targeting other surface anomalies at this time.