Mr. Wesley Hanson reports

NORONT TRIPLES CHROMITE RESOURCE IN RING OF FIRE

Noront Resources Ltd. is providing an updated independent mineral resource estimate for its 100-per-cent-owned Blackbird chromite deposit at the company's McFaulds Lake project in the Ring of Fire, James Bay Lowlands, Ontario.

Micon International Ltd., an independent consulting engineering company, completed the resource estimate. The estimate is classified according to the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum definition standards on mineral resources and mineral reserves, which have been incorporated by reference in the Canadian Securities Administrators National Instrument 43-101, standards for disclosure for mineral projects.

Highlights:

Measured resource:  9.3 million tonnes averaging 37.44 per cent Cr2O3 at a 2:1 chromium-to-iron ratio

Indicated resource:  11.2 million tonnes averaging 34.36 per cent Cr2O3 at a 1.95:1 chromium-to-iron ratio

Measured and indicated resource:  20.5 million tonnes averaging 35.76 per cent Cr2O3 at a 1.97:1 chromium-to-iron ratio

Inferred resource:  23.5 million tonnes averaging 33.14 per cent Cr2O3 at a 1.97:1 chromium-to-iron ratio

Wes Hanson, president and chief executive officer of Noront, stated: "Drilling at Blackbird exceeded expectations, resulting in a tripling of the previous resource estimate at Blackbird, but more importantly, converting a large percentage of the deposit to the measured and indicated classification. The updated estimate demonstrates that Blackbird is similar in size and grade to the nearby Big Daddy and Black Thor chromite deposits. The close proximity of Blackbird to the company's flagship Eagle's Nest nickel-sulphide deposit offers exceptional synergies as both deposits can be exploited using the same underground infrastructure, limiting the incremental capital cost while minimizing the environmental footprint. The company intends to complete an internal evaluation of a Northwest Ontario-based mine, mill and smelter facility capable of producing between 200,000 and 250,000 tonnes of high-quality ferrochrome annually, approximately equal to current North American imports, which originate from South Africa."

Resource parameters and methodology

The resource database comprises 119 drill holes. Chromite grades were capped at 45 per cent Cr2O3. A cut-off grade of 30 per cent Cr2O3 (with allowance of internal waste to respect geological continuity) was selected to allow for reasonable prospects of economic extraction by comparison with current world producers (such as in Finland, Turkey and South Africa). An inverse-distance-cubed interpolation method was used to estimate model grades. Inverse distance cubed provides a fairly high level of selectivity, which ensured zones with internal waste remained distinct. The resource model was validated visually by sectioning, and by domain statistical validation and swath plots.

The updated resource estimate focused mainly on massive chromite lenses. Numerous, small, intercalated chromite lenses identified in previous estimates constitute only 13 per cent of the inferred resource.

The Micon staff with responsibility for this resource estimate are Charley Z. Murahwi, MSc, PGeo, FAusIMM, and Alan J. San Martin, MAusIMM (CP). Both are qualified persons as defined in NI 43-101 and are independent of Noront Resources. Micon acknowledges that it has read this press release and there are no errors contained herein.

A technical report documenting the updated estimate will be available on SEDAR and the company's website within 45 days.

Regional exploration

The company is currently completing the final holes of the 2012 winter drill program at McFaulds Lake. The focus of the winter drilling was to test for the potential for new nickel-sulphide mineralization at new geophysical targets highlighted by the company's recently completed ground-based geophysics.

Targets at AT12 and AT2 were drilled, and the company is currently awaiting analytical results, which are expected in the next six to eight weeks.

Eagle's Nest project

The company is assembling the final costs for the Eagle's Nest feasibility study, which is scheduled for release in a few weeks. Analyst-consensus pricing for nickel, copper, platinum and palladium have been steadily increasing over the past year, which is expected to have a favourable impact on the economics of the project.

Community consultation

The company has held seven separate community open houses throughout Northwestern Ontario, including Thunder Bay, Ignace, Pickle Lake, Eabametoong, Mishkeegogamang, Neskantaga and Webequie. Attendance has been robust and the communities have shown great interest in Noront's future plans. The company intends to continue holding community open houses throughout Northwestern Ontario as it continues to advance its flagship Eagle's Nest project toward commercial production in 2016.

At the recent Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada annual convention in March, the Eabametoong, Neskantaga, Nibinamik and Webequie First Nations signed an agreement pledging to work together to develop an east-west corridor to the Ring of Fire. Final routing is yet to be determined, but the company is encouraged to see the first nations communities becoming increasingly involved in infrastructure development in the Ring of Fire.

Independent quality control and analytical protocol

Chromite

All holes are systematically logged, sampled and shipped under strict chain of custody procedures to Activation Labs in Thunder Bay, Ont., for sample preparation and initial analyses using fusion X-ray fluorescence methods.

A thorough quality-control program has been in effect for the McFaulds Lake project, which includes grouping samples into batches of 35, into which are added one blank, three internationally certified reference materials, one quarter-sawn field duplicate, a coarse-reject duplicate and a pulp duplicate. The pass/fail criteria demands that if the measured concentrations of the ICRMs exhibit a difference greater than three standard deviations above or below the established mean grade of the ICRM, the entire batch is considered to have failed and must be reanalyzed.

It can be said with confidence that all assays have passed the strict quality control guidelines established by Noront's qualified person.

For more information on assay methodology please visit the Activation Labs website or reference the company's NI 43-101 technical report, "Technical report on the mineral resource estimate for the Blackbird chromite deposit, James Bay Lowlands, Ontario, Canada," effective Jan. 22, 2010, available on the company's website and on SEDAR.

The content of this press release has been reviewed by Mr. Hanson, PGeo.

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