When I talked to Neil during the Freewest rape from both NOT and CLF, I asked him the question, "What would prevent Noront or Cliffs from doing the same to you?" He said he was hoping for an offer as they are not producers. He said he'd love to see a .25 to .30 offer. I asked, why would they offer that? Why wouldn't they offer .10? He said he was worried. All the Jrs should be worried. He said, the only real protection was for a second major to enter the scene or for the shareholder to hold out for more. So even then he was wary of Cliffs. He should not have waited till now to conspire with KWG.

I keep saying this on all the boards: CEOS of the JRs. need to stop operating divided until the last moment, and prepare themselves and us before an offer. It will now be a desparate scramble for KWG and SPQ, and to create a shareholder movement to hold the line. But if any of you are invested in the other companies, it's not too late to get CEO's to create a joint war-room. - a round table -one for all and all for one. Cliffs will pick us all apart, and we shareholders will get 2 to 4 multiples instead of 10 to 20.

One other optimistic thought: Supposing Cliffs has changed and are more aggressive now, perhaps it's not annoyance of pesky JRs. Perhaps it's fear that their infrastructure will attract a new major into the scene. So they've got to consolidate now before Noront finds that extra nickel which would be that final incentive to attract them.

-stockgreed