In terms of ROF knowledge I’m a relative NEWBIE but I have lots of experience as an investor in mining stock, geology and project management. To bring myself up to speed I’ve been digging through a lot of the posts from ROF related companies, digging out old company reports and assessment work. There are a lot of people here that seem to be able to dig up good information that I never seem to be able to find on my own even though I look for it. Similarly I appreciate seeing opposing views as long as they there is something supporting them.

After getting into NOT I started looking at the larger area more carefully and concluded that that there are a lot of high quality plays. As UC/SPQ/KWG, PRB, BMK and others have shown, the mineralization event in the area is wider than just DE-1 MMS event. Given the amount of money that is going to go into drilling this year there will be successes. Based on that, I decided for the first time in a very long time to lay some spec side bets.

I could have just as easily chosen UC, SPQ, KWG, FWR, BMK or any of the others. I looked at them and others but decided on FNC and PRB. All the plays have positives and negatives associated with them (including FNC and PRB) that anyone can argue for or against. If any of them hits significant mineralization the returns will easily be 10X+ so I didn’t look at whether it would be 10, 20, 30 or 100X return. If any of them hit their owners will get rich and if they miss they miss the same stock will be back to their pre-ROF days in a hurry.

My argument for FNC was pretty simple. Anomaly FNC 1-3 is a strong ‘DE Type’ anomaly that is very proximal to DE-1 and along or parallel to the plunge direction of the DE-1 deposit. All the other details of why or why not to take a position in FNC are secondary arguments. To me proximity counts even though I have first hand experience that proximity is far from a guarantee ( In 1985 I drilled a hole that hit a fairly large and distinctive target that we were not able to hit again even though we drilled the target until it looked like swiss cheese.) I prefer companies that put their money into the ground so I’m not impressed with how FNC has been going about things. However I like anomaly FNC 1-3 and FNC owns it so I plunked down my money. Hopefully the $'s start to get spent.

PRB is a secondary bet for me based again on proximity. From the 2003 airborne survey I like the PRB anomalies to the north of DE-1. Nothing more than that. I’m hoping that PRB releases their new AeroTEM survey and ground work soon as that will influence whether I stick with them or sell.

Each of the anomalies on any of the properties has the potential to hold mineralization. They may all turn out to have economic deposits on them but the odds are overwhelmingly against that. Your own investment philosophy, expectations and DD should govern which you invest in and when you bailout. My only advice is to remember that every company wants you to invest your money in their company to drive up their SP and make it easier for them to raise more $. So lots of them will talking about how they are looking or have the next ‘DE’, the ‘mirror deposit’, the ‘down plunge extension’, the ‘mother load, the ‘elephant’ etc. Do your own DD and remember that unless one of the drillers is your brother (and that he actually likes you :), your information is not going to be a lot better than anyone else on the boards. More a preference than fact.

If UC, SPQ, KWG, PRB, BMK or any of the others hit big some of you will be rich and I’ll be wishing I’d placed my bet differently or maybe it will be the other way around. In the meantime keep up the posts.

… Been There