Ed:- I largely don't agree with you on the permit issuing matter, because... 1. The Feds have long bee i/c of the EA process, with ON in a support, non leadership role; 2. All technical issues, including final FN concerns have been resolved. 3. Only ON political fear of FN remains 4. The recent Rickford FN PDAC announcements have paved the way for the political permit approvals wrt the Coutts Rickford EW carve-out transportation corridor solution. There is a well established pre-permitting process in place to creat permits temporarily, pending the Mattawa community Fzn consultations. 5. Therefore the E/W road wok-> equip-expl materials transport -> explor-drill -> explore 2015 tax write offs , including the permits,-> all equip/materials long ago staged and ready -> start wok -.> immediate FN jobs -> Mattawa FN and NOT construction PP consortium. 6. NOTs' EA and community $ sunk costs can be writte N off in '15, and 7, a large de-risking hurdle for NOT financing announcements will have been met, in time for further detailing in the forthcoming fed budget. My option. Peter {\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252h {\fonttbl} {\colortbl;\red255\green255\blue255;} }