"Does the mine finder possibility suggest that JB does not plan to sell HM?"

IMO, no. The program does not require Hay Mountain. Any well defined prospect should suffice to get the program started. They only way it would have to be included is if an accepted JV offer required it.

"And could he be more likely to keep it as part of LBSR because Big Chunk's future seems more distant?"

Sure, that may play into things.

"..but I can see where too many choices could become a motivation for delaying a decision--which may require further dilution and a share price that hovers at its present level."

Two different matters, IMO. "Too many choices" is not really an issue, at present. 1) We don't know of any offers, and 2) having multiple interested parties translates less into "delay" than it does into better returns for shareholders.

Then, and I hate to break it to you, there most likely will be further dililution. It has been going on for what seems like forever, and those needs will continue with or without a JV. THE ONLY WAY OUT is if a prospective JV (or two, or three) should happen to include a cash infusion, and that may be unlikely until we have returns from the first round of drilling. ...all in my opinion, of course.

Don't worry about dilution! If and when it happens it will be very small compared to the technical-at-this-point value that has been added by the most recent rounds of geophysical studies and opinions. Drilling may show what has been learned over the last year+ that Hay Mountain alone may be worth may 10's of billions of dollars more that previously imaged. Could it be worth 200 billion? More?

Drilling will tell us, but even if LBSR has had to put out another 2, 3, or 4 hundred million shares, you will still be far better off that if value came only from what was known about Hay Mountain two years ago. ...and then there are the other many new prospects, and Walnut Creek.

Don't sweat dilution, IMO. It's going to happen, it's in the nature of the business, but we will be rewarded, I'm sure.

VP