Well this is the one factor used in the 'scoping study' I have some real objections to because it requires a 'Major' to toss in $173 Million dollars of 'equity'. The equity would be injected into Noront and paid for by issuing of Noront shares thus diluting current shareholders. OR by selling a jv on E1 on terms favourable to such a 'Major'.

On the otherhand have $173 Million dollars in the kitty is sure worth dilution. Even in a stable financial situtation Noront would not be able to go to a 'Bank' and raise $173 Million. A 'Major' could of course do so.

Of more immediate interest is the comment reported from FNC Annual Meeting where Mr. Smith stated. "He said there may be discussions with all the junior miners in the RoF concerning the chrome discovery and offering up the chrome to any interested major! This would then free up the juniors to focus on PGM's;"

Personally I suspect such discussions have already been started and he's just playing coy. It is a bit early but the ROF players should be working together to get a 'framework' in place to move forward with a 'project'. I'll be posting later how I feel this could be done.