Many mixed thoughts randomly come to mind as I think back to the inception of this project circa 2008. Those were the heady days of hope and optimism ... if not faint warning signs. Yes, many of us overlooked the management 'issues' and suffered from collective myopia. There were some dam smart investors here. Wisdom is another issue altogether and I am more that guilty of 'misplacing' any I happened to inherit. Surely the cagey, savvy and wily PQ could easily overcome past foibles and proceed to success on this last big project of his life. After all, if he was putting everything on the line for himself and the future of his family, what more assurance could an excited investor want? Sure there would be some share dilution but that was to be expected with a junior and I’m sure we all got totally sucker punched by the incredible saga of continued gold manipulation to this very day. Imagine if gold had reached it’s natural value of $2300 (as per its $800 high in 2000) a few years ago and moved up from there? But alas and alack, we still wait for the coiled spring to snap into action.

Whoops. That 'potato shed' didn't quite strike a chord but maybe it was also a stroke of expediency that I didn't quite appreciate. One red flag after another was conveniently ignored. After all, we all knew the gold and silver were there. It still is. Still, there were always those pesky detractors that never gave up. It was obvious that some were holdovers from past endeavors that oddly went south. 'Sour grapes' I said to myself. We assured each other there were better days to come.

On it went as the shares climbed up into the billion area. There was no turning back and surely one of the many potential 'angel' investors that came along would save the day because PQ would see the light and share the proceeds wouldn't he? Well, I guess those that 'bellied up' were either disingenuous or simply too greedy and a viable deal could not be secured … or was it management … or both?

Obviously there were also some small private investors and project contributors that grew ever more impatient for their investment exposure as SFMI lurched from one year to the next, coagulating into an ever larger ‘entrepreneurial’ grossness. We can't overlook the many predators, liars and criminals who had a heyday playing the stock and spinning stories. They did make some attractive gains out of all this.

So, as surmised a few years ago, the real opportunity may come to those who finally claim the body for burial rights. As an investor, I might fool myself into thinking that, although dead in the normal sense with little or no brain activity, the body has been preserved in near freezing water and revival is possible... but it will be very, very expensive to bring it back to top form. Will the decision be taken out of the family's hands? So, as the squirming and stalling and delay tactics push the edges out beyond their ultimate elasticity, what will the inevitable day of reckoning birth?

There are a lot of very intelligent people here. I am genuinely sorry it has all come to this. My hope would be that some remedy will be realized that will allow at least original investment dollars to be returned. I believe those with the funds will wait out the management and take over cheap. One caveat that may be worth considering is that more than one potential buyer knows the value of the resource and a bidding situation could well arise. That would be interesting indeed. PQ and friends are in a most untenable corner along with the rest of us. Is he holding out for gold to go well past $2500, do a big share rollback, access investment capital and move forward to a mining project … or a buyout? The odds don’t look good from here. The body has to be kept very cold for some unknown time and that costs money, never mind the revival process.

One thing I do know, gold and silver are the investments to be in. Global fireworks are dead ahead and I look for sudden moves this year, finally.

Good luck everyone. Keep hopeful and well.