Gwr1, We're all trying to help each other out. That's why I love these boards. I realize that what I'm personally doing, won't make much difference, but for my own piece of mind, I'm writing letters to all of the CEO's of companies that I own a considerable number of shares in, to just let them know how I feel about this. I will also write letters to the board members, and call the IR departments periodically to ask them if the boards are even talking about these issues. It may seem to be taking small steps, but if more and more of us start to be a little more proactive about this issue, who knows? There are a handful of companies that are taking some of these steps. I think MUX is one of them (I do not own shares in this one). It's just something that I'm passionate about and feel that this is a huge problem facing the smaller mining companies. These companies will need financing to expand their operations. Can they turn to these banks for $? I'm not sure if that's a feasible option anymore. In the U.S., banks are keeping a ton of their excess reserves parked at the FED to get their 50 basis points, instead of taking risks by loaing it out. That's part ofthe squeeze these companies are facing. It seems like more and more private placements are being done to raise the capital that they need.