Yes, I think its very likely that the company will get a permanent license, not a temporary permit for the Mallard Tailings Facility. It is THE regulatory hurdle that could have easily killed this stock, with no recourse, and not a minor issue. Do not underestimate the importance of obtaining a license for mining & tailings from the Federal Government.

If the company carries equity swaps against the company failure with the intent of insuring the loss, then they are fully justified, but they have to bid to cover their position eventually.

Now, for the trading in the stock, here's a picture of the close on Tuesday:

supersize: http://www.flickr.com/photos/11747277@N07/4619974187/sizes/o/

Note that 'Northern' and 'Jitney' buy stock and sell them like normal, but are never able to get their bid. They jump in late, and miss the stock rise, because they are not providing enough liquidity in their trades. They are too small a position and too early to make any money, because the overwhelming majority of trades here are naked shorts. Its still early, but once the company is awarded a license, then there is less risk in holding the stock, so there will be more traders. This kind of trading is very thin at best right now. The volume of trading in 'real' shares as opposed to trading in 'naked shorts' is very low, and the naked shorts very high.

Note that 'National Bank' is able to buy in abundance in high frequency trades. This is the broker/brokerage that had maintained a very large naked short position since 2007. 'National Bank' has been buying for several months at the 300-day MA. in large quantities. Previous to this, they have been on the sell for years without buying a single share, and are now on the buy, but there is no change to the ownership percentages, which must be announced, hence they are the biggest naked shorter, not an insider or trader, and are trying very hard to settle. They are invariably schrewd players and will always find a large naked shorter such as 'BMO Nesbitt' and 'TD Securities.' to take their bid. They seem to know exactly when BMO Nesbitt and TD Securities are going to naked short in large blocks. Exactly when.

This all happens in automated trades, where there is an obvious bias to the plan, where 'National Bank' is trying to protect its capital position by buying out its naked shorts, and 'BMO Nesbitt' and 'TD Securities' are sticking to their guns by continuing to naked short, especially into the share price low.

'National Bank' is very much ahead of the game, while 'BMO Nesbitt' and 'TD Securities' are hoping the gold price will crash, and along with others in the game, such as Cannacord, and RBC Action Direct are offering naked shorts for each share that National Bank settles. Thus the naked short position is as huge as ever, but less and less in the hands of National Bank and more and more in the hand of its competitors. National Bank has been settling their position in the hundreds of thousands of shares a day each day for the last few months. The others, in the meanwhile are gambling that they are correct in their assumptions.

There is one more player here, which I didn't mention. Macquarie has been buying large blocks of shares while never being on the sell. They have never been active in this stock until May.

-F6