" now it is a question of how long can our NOT hold on" Exactly right. If they can not, then someone will pick up their properties or buy out Noront. The potential in the Ring will always be there, money in the bank so to speak. It is just taking a lot longer to open the vault door than I thought it would.

Also Noront may have to sell their chromite interests to survive, it does not seem likely at the moment that they will have the cash to pay back the loan they got to buy Cliff's properties. Also a chromite mine is going to be a much harder sell to the natives because of environmental concerns (even though they are not realistic concerns) then the Ni mine, so they may be better off without the chromite.