Hi Rob. Could you please clarify one small point for me... You wrote,

"1)CLF is a major. It has de facto declared, it is happy to get FWR without NOT."

Now, I have heard this several times regarding CLF. My question is,

Where has it been written or said from Cliffs that they do not want Noront's this or that... I know you can get tons of clarification from the Freewest board, I have read that over there quite a bit a while back. From what I have heard, this comes from someone calling someone or someone else hearing. I haven't seen anywhere that Cliffs doesn't want anything to do with Noront. Until I see that in writing from Cliffs, I would tend to lean to that being a "rumour". I am not saying it is a non credible or a credible rumour, but a rumour none the less. Please point me to this rumour if it is in fact wrote somewhere other than in a post on a forum. I would be glad to retract my statement...

I make this statement based on one fact," Why would Cliffs "NOT" want what Noront has to offer???" If Cliffs is in this for the long haul of mining chrome, why not purchase all the chrome (to stop any competition if nothing else) and also the nickel to help get a QUICK return on investment so you are not paying interest for a number of years before your chrome mine gets into the black??? If you are willing to spend a billion dollars in infrastructure, would it not make more sense to have both the chrome AND the nickel/copper/pge's from Eagle 1a to pay for it all in 7 years if you use Mr. Nemis feasibility study based on his small company taking this to production? This may indeed take less time if you use Cliff's clout to mine Eagle 1a... so,

What would stop Cliffs from wanting to own the Eagles? It just doesn't make any sense to me that a major, any major, would stop at only the chrome. The only difference I see is the price they paid for the percentage of Freewest opposed to the price they may have to pay for the same percentage of Noront... This is the only difference I see at this time, not Cliffs totally dissing Noront because of whatever reason can be conjured at this time. I think it all boils down to money, personally. Oh well, time will tell all, and hopefully that timeframe is within a couple of years :-}

Oh yeah, and God Bless all Noront and Freewest shareholders :-}

The "new" Herb :-}

(No el presidente status here!!!)