Hi All,

My lovely wife and I recently returned from a relaxing vacation near Playa Del Carmen and were surprised to see the price action with Noront of late. After seeing today's news release, it is likely that the denial of service rumours that some picked up on last week had started to make their way into the market.

I will share some musings on the recent events regarding the first nations and will be the first to say that it does not come as a surprise. Nor am I too upset at this point, though I could become upset later if this drags out for a long time to Noront's disadvantage.

The reality in today's mining industry is that love em or hate em, environmental concerns are increasingly become both a business advantage and a business risk. I have just spent the better part of two weeks at a resort called "Hacienda Tres Rios" which is a few miles south of Playa. It is a resort known as an eCO resort, not because it is in the rain forest where monkeys swing from trees like in Costa Rica but because every detail of the resort was developed with ecology and the environment in mind. After the destruction that Hurricane Wilma brought in 2005, the eastern coast and beaches of the Cancun/Playa area were devestated. While most hotels rebuilt and trucked in sand to cover up the sand bags that would define the new shoreline, Tres Rios decided to keep the beach natural, making for one ugly beach and swimming area. In its place they focussed on an amazing looking self sustaining resort that was as eco friendly as they come.

We decided to stay at the resort not for environmental reasons, but for the great service and food reviews. That said, I did come away impressed with what I had learned. The resort was built on stilts so as to not impact the natural cenotes that form part of the property. All water is derived from their desalination plant and either heated or cooled using both natural fresh water temperatures from the springs, to geothermal heating, to even recycling the heat given off by the air conditioners cooling the rooms. They have even grown and replanted 50,000 mangrove trees on the property in an effort to help restore the area from the damage that was caused.

The hotel opened in late 2008 after a two year environmental impact and design period. They even have an ecological vision in their mission statement.

A real tree huggers dream if their ever was one.

Like I said, the environmental aspect of the trip was not in my top ten list when picking a resort in Mexico, but I will say this: there were many other people at the resort for which this was there #1 reason for being there. They would not have stayed anywhere else. It is the beginning of what is being called eCO tourism, and it is more than just reusing a towel by hanging it up rather than tossing it on the floor.

So back to today's NR. The first nations are blocking exploration in the ROF for an indefinite period of time for what appears to be environmental concerns. Though the reasons in the Noront NR were vague, some of the other material posted here show some real concerns, especially if other companies have been dumping fuel containers into the marsh. It makes for really bad press for the area as a whole and provides (excuse the pun) fuel for the fire that the first nations has started with their actions today.

But it was not like we did not see this coming. As far back as Richard Nemis's reign, he was working with the various first nations group in this area long before the first hole was drilled at Eagle One. Take a look at the NRs from earlier that year and you will find some related info. This continued with the appointment of Neil Novak as a Vice President - Corporate and Aboriginal Affairs, and or course, more recently, Chief Glenn Nolan as Vice President - Aboriginal Affairs. How many small cap mining companies do you know that have such executive positions? Or large mining companies for that matter?

Noront also created a First Nations advisory board made up of various folks.

http://www.norontresources.com/Firstnations/Advisory_Board/

The fact that Noront had the foresight to start to take into consideration the needs of their first nations neighbours years in advance of any development tells me that they truly understand what is required to form a partership with those groups.

Will the service denial have an impact to our share price? Maybe, Maybe Not. With Noront nothing seems logical when it comes to news and share price action. At least since DE first broke out. But rather than focus on tomorrow's opening price, I want to encourage those who are here for the long term to consider how far ahead Noront is in regards to cooperation with the First Nations in the area. It goes far beyond the Christmas presents that Noront donated to the local children less than a month ago.

Reading Wes' reaction today tells me that there is a lot more going on behind the scenes than anyone will likely ever tell. If I was a betting man, I would say that Noront has all of the resources at the camp that they will need until the ban is lifted. Why? They likely were given advance notice of the outage at one of the advisory group meetings. Meetings that the other 45 companies in the ROF do not belong to. The relationship between Noront and those communities has been just too good the past couple of years for these communities to put the screws to their biggest supporter in the midst of a multi million dollar exploration program. I believe that the closure/blockage/moratorium or whatever else this will be called is a message targeted by the First Nations to Cliffs, and secondly to the many other companies who likely have not even extended a courtesy call to anyone in the area. Let alone a gift for a needy local child at Christmas.

I can imagine the conversation going like this on January 17:

Chief: Wes, was that the last plane needed to bring in all the supplies for the winter drill program?

Wes: Almost. We have one more today full of fuel and some drill parts. After that we should be set. Why do you ask?

Chief: Oh, no reason. By the way, what was the date again for the special meeting that will see FreeWest shareholders voting for the Cliff's offer?

Wes: I believe it is January 25, but they have to submit the proxy forms by January 21. Why do you ask?

Chief: Oh, no reason. Let's just say that Big Cliff is no match for Big Eagle, and nothing in the West is Free.

M1.