Investing in junior mining companies is not for the faint of heart. You need to be a bit of a cowboy to jump in no matter how much due dilligence you do. When you keep this kind of company you always risk the "pump and dumps", large scale shorting and general manipulation of the share price. In this instantaneous investment climate, these manipulations are swift and easy. Then you have large capacity investors manipulating and accumulating. This is frustrating as well but once you believe it is happening, it is somewhat reassuring that someone of influence is long on the company. Over the last twelve months, we have endured it all, along with the deepest recession in decades thrown in for good measure.

We have gone from seventy cents to ninety cents during the same period as the TSX has gone from 8000 to 10,000 pts. I take some encouragement that we are following the market because it shows we have a base value that is recognized. There is just too much overcapacity in the world at this time in any of our commodities to have any more value than the markets "base" assessment of us. There is some posturing going on behind the scenes, invisible evaluation, major companies taking stock of what we have and what we are doing. In a full scale recovery, a whole new dynamic will impact the actions of these players who are actively involved. I think our new BOD has the talent and "worldliness" to handle this new dynamic. Some time ago, we spoke here about the experience of our BOD and Exec with acquisitions, TSX listings and mergers. Rightfully or wrongly, these types tend to be busy, cut to the chase people who have an air of arrogance. It's an efficiency bordering on rudeness that Richard didn't display.

NOT has been dilligently staying the course with their exploration program. I am impressed enough with the focus to stay long even though I am disappointed that we have not found more nickle. The key is there are lots of anomalies left and new opportunities like vanadium pop up. There is a lot to figure out while we search, such as can we mine it ourselves, do we partner with a major producer or do we sell out to the highest bidder. This is still a pretty intriguing company to own because things keep changing and there is inherant value. However, the real change in dynamics will occur when the line is crossed where the world actually needs what we have to offer.