Lance, I completely understand where you are coming from. I too am very frustrated with current sp. I have lost a lot of faith too, but fortunatley not all of it. It just seems that at about every turn, Wes makes it a point to say there is not yet enough proved resource for a mine to be economical. Since he is CEO, I have to asume that what he says is true. But why does he have to mention this so many times. Can't he focus more on the positives. It sure doenst encourage new investors to get in. They most likely are thinking they might just as well wait until Wes feels that a mine is justified. And when will that be? The only way sp will go back up is for there to be a new round of buying from new, fired up investors. It seems current shareholders are mostly tapped out. New investors need a reason to buy. Some current shareholders have posted that they are picking up new shares at these rock bottom prices. Great!! Please buy more. Sometimes I think it is those current shareholders who still have some dry powder that are digging deep to buy more is the primary reason that keeps sp from completely tanking. Current shareholders know the story and potential. Its the new buyers that dont. And if they do know the story, they arent convinced, especially when Wes seems to go out of his way to showcase reasons for them not to buy in.

I sometimes think of last fall and the failed bid for FWR. The only way that NOT could have possibly prevailed against Cliffs was to come out with some stupendous drill results or some type of great positive news to increase NOT's sp dramatically in a short time frame. In fact, that is what I thought that there strategy was, since it was the only way they could compete with Cliffs deep pockets. I was waiting for a monster news release, news that NOT was hopefully sitting on and had in their back pocket to propel sp to next level. With a higher sp, there bid goes up in value without them even having to counter offer. I was thinking it was their strategy and that it was brilliant. Why else would they make a bid for FWR. Certainly they had it all worked out ahead of time. But what a disappointment it was.

NOT came out with many news releases. But instead of coming out with all barrells blazing. They shot mostly blanks. If it was indeed there strategy, it was a flop. Since the failed bid, the sp has been on a slow bleed south and we are now at 1.19. Without any news (or something) to turn things around, I can easily see downtrend continuing and sp going below $1.

And I respectfully dont buy the manipulation theory. SP goes up when there are more buyers than sellers. Its goes down when there are more sellers than buyers. Pretty simple stuff. New investors need a reason to buy. There are many other companies out there who also have great potential and they are competing for investors dollars. Come on Wes, its a very competive arena out there in this industry. Lets give new investors some compelling reasons to buy NOT now. Please get the drill results out sooner rather than later. In the end, it will take facts to drive sp higher, not potential. There are too many companies out there with great "potential". We need facts. Complaining about manipulation wont do much to get new investors on board. Positive, factual drill results will.

The one thing that keeps my hopes up is Hoov's assessments from his on site visit. But when I see sp where it is, its hard to take. In long term, I think we will be OK. But in between could get real tough. We just might get drill results or some other type of outstanding news next week to turn things around. Its always possible. But I'm not counting on it.

Just my 2 cents worth.

Profitz

PS. I still think that PRB drilling 500 meters north of Eagle is NOT's wild card. PRB will drill there (NOT/PRB JV) in late summer after additional geophysics work jointly done by NOT and PRB is completed and analysed. If they hit nickel, it will propel NOT higher because then maybe Wes can come out and say that there is enough nickel to justify a mine. But it looks like that is several months away. In meantime, it appears sp will struggle.