"As much as we would have liked Yamana to continue its earn-in, their decision to opt out provides an opportunity for others to participate in this unique, camp scale, regional mineral exploration play in a stable exploration and mining friendly jurisdiction," president and CEO Dr TF Morris said.

"This at a time when such opportunities are essentially non-existent."

The company said thanks to Yamana's C$2 million investment at TPK this year, eight gold-bearing shear systems "capable of hosting economic deposits of gold" had been defined at the Big Dam area.

However it said Yamana had been unable to complete exploration at the second regional-scale system at Annex, where mineralised boulders had assayed up to 727g/t gold, 111g/t silver and 4.1% copper in 2012, leaving the opportunity open for further exploration.

Northern Superior had last week extended the early exploration benefits agreement with Neskantaga First Nation for the TPK property.

The company has also been drilling at its Lac Surprise gold project in Quebec, and recently reminded the market its Croteau Est gold property in the area also presented an "excellent opportunity".

Dual-listed Chalice Gold had elected not to complete its option to earn 65% of Croteau Est four years ago.
 
High-profile investor Eric Sprott held about 11% of Northern Superior in March.

The company's shares have fallen from C40c a year ago to a 52-week low on Monday of 9.5c.

They rose 15.8% - or 1.5c - yesterday to close at 11c, capitalising it about $3.9 million (US$2.9 million).

Yamana shares meanwhile closed 4.6% higher to $4.78.