Recently much of the Canadian Venture exchange has been focused on Noront Resources (TSX: V.NOT, Bullboards) and nearby land claims. In all of this fever a very well run platinum explorer has been largely ignored in the area. This company is 30 kms away from the Noront discovery and below is a summary of its play in the James Bay Lowlands. The stock is very tightly held and should pop once the market is aware of the land holdings in the area. Northern Shield (TSX: V.NRN, Bullboards) has assay results due very soon from their James Bay Platinum Project. With NOT hitting platinum, NRN looks good to hit as well. The company has also staked ground around NOT and should have news out on that as well. It holds the largest ground in the James Bay area but is overlooked in the recent NOT run up. Below is a synopsis of NRN in the James Bay Lowlands. This synopsis was done by Tinman on the Stockhouse Bullboards and I have quoted Tinman's post (with his permission) below: “Back in 2002 or 2003 (can’t remember exactly), Ian Bliss and his father came across an outcrop along a river near Highbank Lake, Ontario, in an area mostly covered by glacial till. The aeromag over the area suggested to them that there was the potential for a mafic layered intrusion where they were prospecting. “The outcrop confirmed their hypothesis and they went on a mad staking rush before anyone else caught wind of what they were doing. Since then, they've staked about 300 square km... the whole play. “Not sure if you're up on your layered intrusion geology, but the Bushveld Complex in South Africa is the world's most famous layered intrusion. The Bushveld is a freak of nature, it's huge, but Highbank would be in the top ten of known layered intrusions in the world. “Layered intrusions are rare animals and are prized for their ability to concentrate PGEs (platinum, palladium, rhodium) into economic horizons with fantastic areal extent. “Impala Platinum, the world's second largest platinum company in the world, has joint-ventured into the property and is paying $5 million in exploration expenditures to earn a 60% interest in the play. If this were the oil business, this set-up would be like having Royal Dutch Shell farm into your frontier oil prospect and pay for all of the drilling costs. “All of the work done to date, including two drill programs, has confirmed that the Highbank property covers a large mafic layered intrusion capable of hosting a significant amount of PGEs. NRN has just wrapped up the third drill program and assays are pending. The target is a blind one (buried under glacial till), but the company is zeroing in on it. “If NRN hits, I figure that it'll have close to 50 million ounces of platinum in the ground. It would be the largest PGE deposit in Canada. “Highly speculative, but all of the ingredients are there. For me, if I'm going to speculate, I'm going to do it with a real management team, with a real project, with real potential. “The NRN website explains what the Highbank play is all about in more detail. If the company hits PGEs of anything in the 3-5 g/t range I'd expect NRN will become a household name in mining circles. If they hit 10 g/t or more, I'd expect it to be a household name everywhere! NRN could be the play of the century based on its hunt for platinum in the under-explored James Bay Lowlands. “Remember, highly speculative... but in my opinion a great play.”