Sudbury junior miner breathing new life into Far North, Quebec projects: exploration, not litigation, is what's driving Northern Superior Resources in James bay, Chibougamau.

• Author: Ross, Ian
• Position: SUDBURY

Tom Morris is excited to be finally returning to his roots.

The president-CEO of Northern Superior Resources has two projects on the go this summer as his Sudbury exploration outfit advances a promising Quebec gold project while simultaneously blowing the dust off a mothballed gold and base metals property in Ontario's Far North.

"When it comes to doing what we're supposed to be doing, which is exploration, we've been pretty dormant," Morris admits.

During the downturn, it was all about survivability for many junior miners who tightened their belts as exploration dollars dried up.

After weathering that period in reasonably good shape, it's now time to get back to work with exploration dollars in hand and new company leadership in place.

"Timing was everything," said Morris. "I kept the company going for this opportunity that we knew was coming at some point."

After raising more than $4 million in flow-through dollars, and $2 million coming from strategic mining investor Eric Sprott, the company entered the summer field season with renewed optimism.

Northern Superior bills itself as a project generator with a stable of 22 properties in various stages of exploration.

Stemming from his 14 years as a geologist with the Ontario Geological Survey, Morris places particular emphasis on developing quality science-based projects.

Unfortunately, the company has gained more notoriety in recent years for its ongoing litigation against the Ontario government in a duty-to-consult case that heads to an appeal court later this year.

But apparently, the lawsuit didn't scare off the new board, chaired by Francois Perron of Renmark Financial Communications. The new group has more financial expertise in raising capital for resource projects.

It's also spurred the soft-spoken Morris to become more of a pitch man to boost an underperforming TSX stock

"It's really frustrating to hear these things that are very positive about the company and seeing us trade at four cents. That's the enigma we're trying to understand."

This summer they're putting boots back on the ground at their Ti-pa-haa-kaa-ning (TPK) gold-silver-copper property in the James Bay lowlands. Due to the expense of operating in the remote region, the project was shelved during the downturn.

They'll look to complete the prospecting program and structural study that was placed on hold in 2012.

Measuring 20 kilometres by 30 kilometres, Morris believes TPK has district-scale mining possibilities...