Alan Coutts's Noront Resources Ltd. (NOT) gained 13 cents to 48.5 cents on 3.20 million shares, after the company arranged to buy Cliffs Natural Resources Inc.'s (CLF: $4.81 (U.S.)) Ring of Fire properties (chromite, nickel, copper, zinc and gold) for $20-million. Noront has only $6-million in working capital, but the money for this purchase will come from Franco-Nevada Corp. (FNV: $64.78). Franco-Nevada has agreed to lend Noront $22.5-million, and pay $3.5-million for a 3-per-cent royalty on Cliffs's Black Thor chromite deposit and a 2-per-cent royalty on all of Noront's other properties, except for Eagle's Nest.

Noront has already moved into Cliffs's vacant Ring of Fire exploration camp. The iron ore miner pulled out of the area in 2013, one year after stopping work at its proposed $3.3-billion Black Thor chromite mine because of stalled talks with the government. The price of chromite was also a factor; it had dropped to $2.25 a kilogram, down from $6.25 a kilogram five years earlier. Today chromite sells for just over $2 a kilogram, which is why Noront's Mr. Coutts told the Financial Post this month that the metal is not a Noront priority. "There is just no need for a lot of new chromite right now," he said, referring to Noront's exploration-stage chromite property. Now that Mr. Coutts has his hands on a massive chromite deposit, where Cliffs spent over $200-million, his opinion will probably become more nuanced.

Fellow Ring of Fire explorer, Frank Smeenk's KWG Resources Inc. (KWG: $0.025) seems pleased with today's deal. Last fall, Mr. Smeenk said KWG was trying to line up the money to make this purchase. The company has $3-million in working capital, but closing financings is almost impossible for a two-cent stock with over 778 million shares outstanding. The company is about to issue another 35 million shares as a property option payment, but it cannot do this until its delists from the TSX-V and moves to the Canadian Securities Exchange. For his services to KWG, Mr. Smeenk receives $400,000 a year. Noront's Mr. Coutts receives $330,000.