First, the nice bits.

Meeting Maureen ("irish"), Babjack, Boatboy and Brattymack, and of course, "the HOOV". To those of you who were surprised at how I actually present (no, I am not a 70 year old hermit who lives in the woods...the avatar is my cottage for goodness sakes!) , my profound apologies, but in the immortal words of Popeye, "I ams what I ams!".

That said, none of my fellow posters were at all a disappointment...rather the opposite.

Had a chance to meet with Elaine (Richard's steadfast and long term assistant) and her husband Malcolm, who seems to know a thing or two about mining stocks.

As I said, those were the nice bits.

Now the ambivalent bits.

It appears that Noront has taken a shining to our Native population. All well and good, but I am not certain how, things being what they are, this presently advances our purpose. Don't get me wrong, I am all for advancing the interests of the local population around our primary property of interest, but not as a one way endeavour. And not when that same population is presently acting against my interest as a shareholder. And that is precisely what is happening. Until this blockade is lifted, we are going nowhere fast. And I don't like it one bit.

So we were treated to a short from a documentary film about life on the Res, sponsored by Noront. Nine minutes of Native kids learning the joys of indie film making. Big round of applause for one of the Chiefs who was an honoured guest.

I think Wes sees this as a long term investment in the youth of the FN. I might be inclined, under the present circumstances, to take a shorter, more directed view. Something along the words of crazytrade "no money, no honey" (ps. nice moniker!)

I could imagine a different sort of film. Perhaps ten minutes of footage of the blockade juxtaposed against the potential riches of our deposit, and how those riches will assist those same youth, once the blockade is lifted, and everybody starts to work together towards a common goal.

But that's just me.

The film was followed by the inspiring announcement that Noront is going to contribute $5,000.00 to the company that made the film.

I reached for my second drink.

I see that Noront is now in the technology business. Fascinating stuff that, but not why I invested in this company. Apparently, there are free downloads of applications for all my friends!

Drink number three.

With which I was now ready to share a private conversation with the big man himself.

Wes was cordial and approachable and ready to chat.

The big drills are ready to be brought in, just as soon as the blockade is lifted. No telling when, of course, and nothing going on until then. Wes confirmed that every bit of the resources set out in the 43-101 is mineable. I questioned the cut off point, and he said not to woory, it's all good. And of course, we remain open at depth and along strike.

We spoke of Windfall. If I wasn't so heavily invested in the company being run by this fellow, that conversation would be largely humorous. Given today's release and all. Not to mention the 170% jump.

"Windfall was worthless" said Wes. "It will never be mined". He spoke of his past experience with a similar property in which his company had spent a gazzillion dollars after successful drill cores, only to dig a tunnel to nothing. Which is what, according to Wes, our (past tense) tunnel at Windfall led to.

I bet him $5.00 that he was dead wrong. He took that bet.

I would have preferred if he had simply stated that Noront had been pushed by the various Hedgies, inculding the despicable Irwin, to drop the property as part of the platform used to oust Richard. And perhaps that, given financial pressures, a well thought out business strategy had been employed to focus solely on the JBL. And maybe, even, that that strategy had been flawed in retrospect.

But to look me in the eye and tell me there was nothing there worth mining?

I would have reached for a fourth drink, but the headache was coming on, and it was time to plan an exit strategy.

This was my first direct contact with Wes. It could have gone better. At the same time, and to be fair, he invited me to contact him at any time with questions, assuring me that "he was not part of an evil empire".

I was going to ask him about the business model that had Noront leave 7500 meters of drilled core unsampled at Windfall, or what ever happened to the rebate from the government of Quebec, but there seemed little point.

Lest any of you think that I am now concerned about my sizeable investment in this company, let me assure you that I am not. As long as Wes and his merry band continue to drill (once the Natives figure that's in their best interest), I remain more convinced than ever that the property, and the extent of the find, remain breath taking in their value. I believe that Wes sees that as well, and is unlikely to bugger up any potential deal in the future. The notion of Cliffs swooping in and stealing the property away (ala FWR) is unsound in my view.

Recall that the massive valuations of the Chromite, and the statements by Cliffs of the revenue that it was likely to generate once mining got under way, all largely took place after the deal was a fait accomplis. Prior to that, Cliffs was able to capitalize on the nonsense previously spouted about how Chromite had no value.

Thankfully, Canada has a bit of history mining Nickle and Gold, and with our 43-101 already published, the likelihood of a major stealing our property, seems remote.

So I will continue to hold, and likely accumulate. I recently came into some additional funds form a small play called EAG. Perhaps you've heard of it?

I intend to be at their AGM tomorrow to shake Richard's hand, and to let him know that I never lost faith.

But for now.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Wake me up at $20.00

crazydik