Great discussion with excellent points all around.

I think it is advantageous for Noront to have assurances Fancamp will playball, just as I think Peter Smith sees advantages in Fancamp taking as long to drill as they need to.  This looks to be playing out as a good game of chess often does; slow, progressive, and increasingly higher stakes as the game continues.

Peter is concerned with showing his hand in case the drill comes up empty, and Fancamp land is valuable to Noront (mineralized or not) for delivery along with other claims to a major.   Smith's negotiating leverage increases with i) FNC Positive drill intercepts, ii) FNC Speculative Potential, iii) FNC market value/  Richard's increases with i) FNC nil results, ii) nil Speculative Potential, iii) nil Market Value.

I would suspect Richard is concerned negotiations would not be as open ended if a large body is located on Fancamp property - and he is probably right.  If he located the 'motherlode' on the FNC border, it's not a stretch to suggest that FNC market vauation could approach a quarter or more of a billion dollars without Peter so much as tapping a hole.  If you think Peter is reluctant to expose his hand now, just imagine if he had 5 or more times as much market valuation to lose if his side comes up empty.

By putting a temporary ceiling on Fancamp's speculative value, Richard increases Noront's negotiating parity and thereby Peter's willingness to either negotiate or show Fancamp's hand with the drill. 

I'm long on both NOT and FNC, and have been waiting on Peter Smith since October.  Short term share price movements may be affected by these games, however positive assays from FWR, Noront, or others at this point should restore much of the speculative value lost today by FNC.  Judging from the NR, Noront has left their return-date for drilling their side of the anomoly open-ended.  I wouldn't be surprised if they waited until Fancamp was well into their drill program before resuming.