I believed a few months ago that Noront's location ( under Noront ownership or someone's buying out) will have a mine. There had been proven enough of a resource for that to happen.
What Noront did by the offer was to speed up the process of infrustructure implacementation and drew attention to the region. That in itself is a win.
What is needed now is the basic infrustructure for that to happen. I mean road, rail and power.

Some may see Noront as a loser with the Freewest offer but I see it as a smaller winner in comparison to what could have been a huge win for Noront and Freewest shareholders had the two merged. It is not the dollar value of the offer that matters most but the possibility of share price appreciation had the merge happened. So I think that Freewest share holders made a mistake, enough said on that.
I also think that Cliffs will not get an open pit permit. If it was up to me I would say Never. Canada is not a third world country and the environmental conscience is very alive here. I happen to think that the very idea of open pit was and is a sales job to the sleeping shareholders.

And no matter who stakes land for any rail or road routes it will be the Ontario government and the locals that will decide the path and the nature of access. Staking is only for publicity purposes and to reap some profits due to expropriation of said staked land.

The problem that the Noront B of D. face now is how to best invest our dollars regarding further exploration of the resources. I say majority in the near term should be extension of the Eagle's nest depth wise.

And by excitement, I do not necessarily mean share price wise. That is too hard to predict because we are subject to the whims of stronger entities. To me this past year excitement was Eagle's hole 49 and recently the offer to Freewest, to name a couple.

I expect no less excitement this year. I am enthralled with the prospects.