I've been thinking about Baosteel lately and their "remarkable" patience.

All those 80 cents shares for years...and what about Bo Liu, Baosteel's board member?

What's he thinking these days?

And this sudden TANKING of the share price? Why the urgency today?

And the Marten Falls' symposium this Wed-Friday. Who is going to attend with all this "dismal" gloom and doom.

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But apart from the share price. Is it all gloomy with nothing to see?

Last week I watched the CEO of Algoma being interviewed and he mentioned the 300 million investment that will be  taking place.

Link to watch below.

https://saultonline.com/2018/12/algoma-steel-ceo-kalyan-ghosh-talks-past-present-future-of-the-steel-plant/

They want to diversify and make new types of steel. He mentioned the stuff already seen in the news ...but he did add in an extra little bit when he also mentioned they want to supply steel for the new Canadian Navy ships. I've alreadly posted about  the chromium required to make these.

And these ships are supposed to be built starting early 2020's...where will Algoma get the chromium?

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And what about the other steel guys? Is it  just Algoma diversifying their steel making? 

Look at this news from yesterday...wow. ...5.6 billion...what's changed to make this investment?

And what is changing?? Are new steels going to be made?

https://www.nwitimes.com/business/lake-newsletter/arcelormittal-u-s-steel-to-invest-billion-in-u-s/article_d8640fdd-c214-5b68-8240-5957a8d8b96d.html

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Going back to Baosteel ... 

I posted this on Agora 12 days ago. It is worth another read before you read the other stuff below.

https://agoracom.com/ir/Noront/forums/discussion/topics/719544-baowu-baosteel-why-so-confident-about-supply-of-chromite/messages/2214364#message

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this came out today:

https://im-mining.com/2018/12/10/siemens-delivers-product-management-solution-chinas-leading-ferrochrome-producer/

Notice Siemens involvement above and notice:

"This project for the leading supplier of ferrochrome to major stainless-steel producers in China, enables a more unified planning and business-level insights based on integrated, current and actionable data drawn from the customer’s information system from Mintal ERP software and that of other business functions, and its plant automation, which is based on Siemens Simatic PCS 7.

“The new PMS will provide a fast and powerful tool for improving the product manufacturing experience and production management. Featuring the framework and functionality of Minerals MES, it will be optimised to the production-process characteristics of chrome ore pellets and high carbon ferrochrome. The collaborative management of equipment, personnel, materials and other resources will enable the Mintal Group to achieve a complete picture of production scheduling and control, equipment operation and maintenance cycle management, material and production quality control.”

Mintal Group Ferrochrome Science and Technology Co Ltd is a new metallurgical Sino-foreign joint venture with investors including China Minerals Corporation and Goldman Sachs. Mintal Group Chromium Industry Technology Co Ltd is located in Jiuyuan District Industrial Park, Baotou City, Inner Mongolia, and is the largest chrome alloy manufacturer in China.

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When you read the above, you ask yourself who is Mintal's largest customer for the ferrochrome? Answer :Baosteel...You know.... the company that bought shares of Noront at 80 cents who has a member on the Noront board.

But, if South Africa and India...really "mean it" about not exporting Raw chrome to  China..then where will the chrome come from? Just the threat alone is a reason to diversify supply.

And notice the involvement of Goldman Sachs?

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Goldman Sach's USA headquarters is in New York.

Was Goldman one of the banks that Fedeli met  with last week Dec. 3?

https://www.kissnorthbay.com/2018/12/03/vic-fedeli-goes-to-new-york-on-government-business/

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And what about the meeting between our new Minister of Environment Rod Phillips and his fed counterpart?

What did they also talk about on Dec.6? Did Rod bring up the long overdue Noront EA during his talk?

https://globalnews.ca/news/4734751/ontario-climate-change-federal/

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from the past:

https://sassda.co.za/stainless-steel-will-be-cheaper-than-galvanised/

The second presentation was by Mintal Group, China on “Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow of the Chinese FeCr Industry”

The last slide had only ten words – “What is our target? Make stainless steel replace carbon steel”

The breakthrough technology here is producing ferritic stainless steels for less than the cost of galvanised steel – in other words, a superior product for a lower price. The galvanised steel market in China alone consists of 64 million tonnes. To put this into perspective, the entire world’s production of stainless steel was just over 45 million tonnes in 2016, with China producing 54% of this. The company also plans to target the coloured steel sheet market in China, which is about 25 million tonnes.

A new stainless steel plant will start producing 2.5 million tonnes of stainless steel within the next two years – and this is just the start. This will be a dedicated ferritic stainless steel plant with backward integration into the ferrochrome plant and iron plant. The idea is to have liquid ferrochrome and liquid iron transfer into a plant optimised for ferritic stainless steel production.

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Ferritic steels are high chromium, magnetic stainless steels that have a low carbon content. Known for their good ductility, resistance to corrosion andstress corrosion cracking, ferritic steels are commonly used in automotive applications, kitchenware, and industrial equipment

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Now go back to last month and re-read this:

https://agoracom.com/ir/Noront/forums/discussion/topics/718088-wl-ross-baosteel-noront-tesla-etc/messages/2211975

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Baosteel, seems quite comfortable holding those 80 cent noront shares for all these years while stuff has unfolded around them.

Now that stuff has unfolded, the Algoma new owners moving in is just one...

It seems time to make the progress on the ROF file. There was a post today about How can Noront even talk about a location of a 1 billion dollar smelter when ..their market cap is so low.

Don't forget something from the past. If you recall, The Sault wanted the smelter so bad they said they would consider paying for the smelter! 

With  companies, making all these expensive plans, sounds like a stable supply of raw materials is required.

 think back to Mintal's :"This will be a dedicated ferritic stainless steel plant with backward integration into the ferrochrome plant and iron plant."

Ferritic stainless is high chromium steel using primarily in automotive application. Hmmm.

It's convenient that RCF is not only a shareholder at Noront, but also a shareholder at Champion Iron ore 

If Mintal can be very competitive with this dedicated ferritic stainless plant with backward integration into the ferrochrome plant and iron plant...and considering China has to import Chrome ore..

Imagine how competitive we could be here for the North American auto industry.

The tanking of the Noront share price looks timely to me.