D12, you present a very plausible scenario. Given the huge investment in mining and processing infrastructure in South Africa, Kazakhstan, India and Finland, you would think major producers will pull out all the stops to protect what they have. However, greed and ego are powerful motivators. Surely someone will seize the opportunity. When the economy rebounds as it surely will, and the numbers work out, I think you will see a North American producer. The US will be invoking their own protectionism under the new administration and that could mean reducing dependancy on overseas countries for oil and commodities like chrome. The global economy will become a little more insular but it may bode well for Canadian oil industries and mining industries as a friendly neighborhood supply. It has taken me a while to warm up to this chromite, I still think Ni/Cu is king and our best hope for making money in the short term.

At the risk of contradicting myself, Freewest/Spider announced significant chromite hits nearly three years ago and the markets did not react. Now we have a mountain of the stuff and still no reaction. I think it is because of the supply and demand with no recovery in sight and when there is, there is plenty of startup capacity that has been recently idled. The catch is will some "upstart" major be greedy enough to put someone else out of business? Will such a company want to diversify itself to satisfy it's corporate ego? I think an american company with ties to the big american steel producers may be a likely candidate. This is my opinion and all other theories are just as likely.

In the meantime, I am praying for nickel.

Mike