Disappointing exploration results in the "Ring of Fire" McFauld's Lake area of northern Ontario have forced Hawk Uranium (HUI-V) to bow out of its joint-venture option agreement with Noront Resources (NOT-V).

The news sent Hawk Uranium's shares down a penny, or 18.2%, to 4.5¢ apiece, in mid-morning trading.

Noront's final report on the diamond drill program on the 50:50 joint venture property did not recommend follow-up work.

"Based on geophysical interpretations of exploration results, a weakly-conductive drill target was selected for exploration," Hawk Uranium outlined in a press release today. "The samples obtained from that target were tested, and the results returned were found not to warrant further investigation."

Noront began an initial three-hole diamond drill program totaling about 450 meters in October 2008. The drill program targeted a prominent airborne geophysical anomaly that had been identified from roughly 300 line km of helicopter-borne AeroTEM and magnetic geophysical surveys conducted at 100-meter line spacing.

Ground detail follow-up consisted of roughly 132 line km of ground geophysical surveys, including horizontal loop electromagnetics, ground magnetometer and very low frequency electromagnetic surveys. A second airborne electromagnetic and magnetic survey was flown over the property using Geotech Ltd-VTEM technology.

Under Hawk Uranium's option agreement with Noront, which was concluded in November 2007, upon Hawk earning its 50% interest in the property, the parties would set up a joint management committee to develop the property as a joint venture, with Noront continuing to act as the operator.

But Vance White, Hawk Uranium's president, said by telephone that the company wasn't giving up on the area and that the company still has a joint-venture on a portion of the McNugget propery with MacDonald Mines Exploration (BMK-V) on the western edge of the James Bay Lowlands.

Drilling by MacDonald in 2005 led to the discovery of VMS mineralization on the McNugget claim block immediately adjacent to the Hawk-McNugget property, as well as a large differentiated mafic-ultramafic complex with magnetite layering and minor sulphide.

Hawk Uranium holds a 36.7% stake in the joint-venture property, which is being explored for nickel, copper and platinum-group elements. The property is made up of six contiguous claims covering 1,554 hecatres.

Hawk Uranium has a diversified portfolio of exploration projects at various stages of exploration and drilling.

The Toronto-based exploration company is looking for uranium in northern Saskatchewan, Ontario and Quebec; gold in northern Ontario; and nickel, copper, and platinum group elements in the Ring of Fire McFauld's Lake area of northern Ontario.

Hawk Uranium has 51.6 million shares outstanding and has traded in a 52-week band of 2¢-32.5¢ a share.