Bought another 30k shares this am at USD $.69.
Spoke with Wes Tuesday afternoon. Did not talk about AT12 other than there would be no drilling this summer.
The following is not verbatim but a summary of my recollection.
He said Baosteel is very interested in our nickle as well as the chromite.
Told him I was concerned with his apparent change in emphasis from exploration of potential nickel resources to feasibility and pre-feasibility studies and drilling for chromite. I also mentioned that I thought we were "taking on" Clifts.
He said there really wan't any change in direction for the Company. They were just continuing to follow a path to develop their nickel and chromite. (I still believe there was a change in direction probably resulting from our lousy drilling record the last year.)
I asked him if Cliff's had been in touch with him recently. He said no. He also mentioned that if he were Cliff's he would be concerned about the latest Noront activity with Baosteel.
Wes said in the future he hopes to work on an off-take deal or a JV with Baosteel (this was mentioned in the last NR) The off-take $ could be as a high as 30% of build-the-mine needs of $600-700 million. It would require Noront to dedicate a portion of our resource production to Baosteel at a market price or a fixed price (Wes indicated there would be no discount involved). The offtake $ would not be an investment but the cost of the agreement. I thought this was amazing if not unbelievable but Wes said this does happen. The JV could be for both the "Eagle Nest" and "Blackbird" properties. This would be a direct investment. Noront would be the operating partner in the joint venture.
I asked if we would be spending dollars exploring for nickel. He said that in exploring for chromite at Eagle 2 they could find some nickel. They also might drill at some targets aroung Eagle 2.
So why did I increase my already sizable position in Noront. Because we already have it in the ground and we are worth much more than $.69 USD in my opinion.
It would be nice if someone could estimate the current $ in-ground value of our measure, indicated and inferred resource.
