Two things regarding the several site visits by potential funders that have already taken place and the additional visits that will hopefully take place before JB heads east:

1 – Flying out to Tucson to tour the Hay Mountain site and surrounding areas w/ JB (and an arms-length geologist) represents a strong indication of preliminary interest. We’re talking about people with busy schedules whose time is valuable.

2 – Having taken a site visit w/ JB last year (not as a potential funder, just as an interested shareholder) I can tell you that JB’s knowledge of the area is nothing short of amazing. It is not just the geology, but the history, as well. He’s extremely engaging and a delight to listen to.

Clearly finding a partner to fund $6-9M on exploratory drilling is very difficult in this historically bad funding environment, but I do take some comfort in the above points.