Yes. From the answers to Blue's question, it appears we were all overestimating the consequences of events in the Middle East. As I suggested yesterday, this may result in the "interested parties" feeling more under pressure to get their funds to work in safer parts of the world, so the situation remains electric - anything can happen at any time.

Do you have time for a couple of stories?

I was once deeply into a stock with a large gold and copper project in a Latin American country, one of the continents largest discoveries. The claim ownership rights came into their interest in a round-a-bout way, but a major already claimed development rights and had done much of the drilling by this time. The exporer approached the major about a deal, and they refused. With shareholder permission, the junior company sued, and the case went to the nation's supreme court, who under rumors of corruption, found that the junior "lacked the standing" to file this action.

With shareholder approval, the junion found grounds to bring the case back to court, and they won this time, and the major withdrew from that country. What the junior lacked as this point was some finalization work on the prospect, and a few permits. They brought in equipment, people, and proceeded to get all the final permits.

What happened? They got all the permits save the last one, which was never granted, nor did the country explain why they would not approve that final permit. Meanwhile, the country refuted their former promise to participate in international arbitration, and be bound by the results thereof.

The case has gone to arbitration anyway, and the junior mining company will probably win, but may never collect without a change in government which is not likely to come about anytime soon.

During this time, the company continued to dilute and eventually was delisted and forced into bankruptcy - it doesn't trade today, evan as artisinal native miners illegally extract gold there while polluting the area with mercury.

Personally, I lost a lot on this story, but got out early enough that with some lucky trading was able to recover much of those losses.

My points are 1) in this business you can be right and still lose, and 2) you can never know what is going to happen next. Also, if any investment keeps you awake at night, that's a very good sign that you should not be in it.

Good things can happen too, and move with surprising speed. In the 90's, one small non-producer grubstaked a couple of individual explorers who thought they could find diamonds in Labrador. Instead, they found the world's richest gade and 1st or 2nd largest nickel deposit. Discovery to sellout was 3-4 years during which time the stock went from about 50 cents to around 43 dollars, and that's after selling 20 percent of the company to a mid-tier producer to help fund exploration. This is what can happen to LBSR at Hay Mountain, and that's only part of one of LBSRs "super projects".

So, I agree, this has been a painful and exhausting marathon, and it's ain't over. Actually, it never will be if my vision is true. One success will lead to another and another and so on for decades, with many of the discoveries on the scale of the story in the preceding paragraph.