Although Noront's  current share price looks very unattractive and undesirable..It's clear that stuff is happening behind the scenes.

I've been been looking more at Teck and the stuff going on at Hudbay ...

Both were involved with ROF players in the past...

https://www.ourcommons.ca/Content/Committee/411/RNNR/Evidence/EV5394810/RNNREV27-E.PDF

Kirk McKinnon-MacDonald mines (Feb. 16 ,2012)

The opportunity in James Bay, in my opinion, is unprecedented. The issue for the government, I believe, is to recognize that opportunity. I have a proposition for you, and the proposition is very simple.

It is that if you believe there is an opportunity in James Bay that is unparalleled in Canada—and I urge you to have your people search that out—then that opportunity would provide, in my opinion, for the province of Ontario an economic growth engine that would be unprecedented, especially in this time of need in this province. The opportunity, for me, is being lost because of lack of recognition. You see here at this table different people who represent different desires and different directions. There is no clear, concise process as it relates to the interface with the first nations.

 Sometimes I quarrel with our friends in Quebec, but I tell you in all honesty that they have a system in the province of Quebec that is by far the best in Canada and is recognized throughout the world as that. Look hard at that, because it is a system through which they have made the necessary arrangements to work in concert with the first nations and mining communities.

We do not have that kind of opportunity. If you believe that the Ring of Fire and the James Bay lowlands offer the opportunity that I'm outlining for you, then it requires government leadership to bring stability, discipline, and direction.

Well, Hudbay wasn’t that “highly reluctant because they bought almost 10% of Northern Shield…another ROF player that was working on the ROF highbank Lake property.

HudBay Minerals Makes Investment in Northern Shield Toronto, Ontario, February 1, 2012 - HudBay Minerals Inc. ("HudBay") (TSX:HBM) (NYSE:HBM) today announced that it has acquired 11,300,000 units (“Units”) of Northern Shield Resources Inc. (“Northern Shield”) (TSX.V:NRN) at a purchase price of C$0.22 per Unit for total consideration of C$2,486,000…., HudBay currently owns and has control over 11,300,000 Common Shares (approximately 9.9% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares) and 5,650,000 Warrants which, together with HudBay’s Common Shares, represent approximately 14.1% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares on a partially-diluted basis.

ONE YEAR LATER. TECK jumps in…..and Also buys shares of Northern Shield.

Fast forward to 2015 when KWG acquired the Macdonald Hornby Rof claims.

With the Road announcement to come giving us who the details of who the proponents will be….

IS TECK or HUDBAY still interested… in the  ROF….(and I’ll use the words of MacDonald mines, Kirk McKinnon) “opportunity in James Bay that is unparalleled in Canada?

And all this responsible steel certification…is kind of scary to meet…have to pick and choose those countries carefully. And the Threat from BlackRock's Larry Fink about "reponsible investment."..

The ROF looks MUCH more attractive today then it did in 2012. And Noront holds 85% of the claims now.

So where is HUDBAY and TECK…??

Are they waiting to come out of the closet?

Hudbay’s FLIN FLON  Manitoba copper-zinc mine has been extended from 2021 to 2022…they sure could use a copper-zinc supply to replace the mine that will be closing over there…

But something happened over at Hudbay …and it started last year with the Activist that came on board..

(similar stuff seen at Noront and Cliffs)

with board, management shakeup.... Oh and my favorite…forbid new acquisitions…for now.

==============================================================

Activist Waterton stated:

“ we call on the Board of Directors of Hudbay to immediately terminate any discussions or plans to execute the Mantos Transaction and any other material acquisitions in the near term (the "Acquisition Moratorium") and to provide corresponding comfort to this effect to the Company's shareholders.”

The Mantos Transaction was a rumour only…and I didn’t buy it. ..

The changes were done for another reason. Perhaps to stop a different acquisition…or gain total  control of HUDBAY

This month the CEO was replaced with an interim one.

https://www.hudbayminerals.com/English/Media-Centre/News-Releases/News-Release-Details/2019/Hudbay-Announces-that-Alan-Hair-has-Stepped-Down-as-President-and-CEO-Peter-Kukielski-Appointed-Interim-CEO/default.aspx

Hudbay Announces that Alan Hair has Stepped Down as President and CEO, Peter Kukielski Appointed Interim CEO

July 10, 2019

TORONTO, July 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hudbay Minerals Inc. (“Hudbay” or the “company”) (TSX, NYSE: HBM) today announced that Alan Hair has stepped down as Hudbay's President and Chief Executive Officer and as a director of the company. Mr. Hair spent more than 20 years with Hudbay and was instrumental in the company's growth, serving as Chief Operating Officer from 2012 to 2015 before being appointed President and Chief Executive Officer in 2016.

Peter Kukielski has been appointed Interim Chief Executive Officer. Peter has more than 30 years of extensive global experience within the base metals, precious metals and bulk materials sectors, having overseen operations across the globe.

“We have a strong management team and an experienced leader in Peter Kukielski, who will ably lead the company in the interim while we complete our search for the best possible permanent leader for Hudbay,” stated Alan Hibben, Chair of the Board of Directors. "Alan’s departure does not affect our strategic or financial outlook. Our focus remains on executing against our value creation strategy and delivering on a number of near-term catalysts.

So, who’s going to be the new CEO at Hudbay…

You just never know..Mick Davis left his UK tory Treasurer position a week ago.

Things are looking more interesting every day.

 Hudbay needs to make deals to replace the soon closing Manitoba FLIN FLON mine...

and according to Rick Rule Sprott..Teck needs to diversify ...

The Rof would help them both out. 

Then there's also this article from 5 years ago..yes, X2 is gone...but what about the interest in Hudbay?

https://www.mining.com/mick-davis-first-deal-land-canada-report/3231/

 Former Xstrata boss Mick Davis is said to be finalizing talks with a Toronto-listed miner, in a deal that could kick-off a long awaited buying spree by his $5.6 billion X2 Resources fund.

“A deal in Canada could be a prelude to the bigger acquisition he’s been seeking for some time,” two people familiar with Davis’ plans told Bloomberg.

The sources added the most likely targets were Hudbay Minerals (TSE:HBM), Capstone Mining (TSE:CS) and Imperial Metals (TSE:III), all of which were trading higher Friday morning after the news

You never know the plan could even be to do a teck-hudbay merge deal....and then this merged entity deals with the ROF, or for Teck to buy out Hudbay and then do a deal wiht Noront..

Back in 2015 this was written:

https://www.fool.ca/2015/03/24/will-teck-resources-inc-buy-hudbay-minerals-inc/

Mr. Nagle highlighted a few reasons why Teck should buy Hudbay. The first is that it gives Teck greater exposure to copper and zinc, which have better fundamentals than the coking coal business. Second, Hudbay’s assets would help rejuvenate Teck’s growth ambitions. He also pointed out the new company would have an improved balance sheet (depending how the acquisition is financed)."

Teck's managed to reduce their debt substantially since the article was written in 2015 and Hudbay's market cap has come down significantly

 pretty interesting times.