My, how this little stock has grown.

A year ago, on Thursday, September 28, 2006, Noront opened and closed at .165. The trading volume of that day? 0

No halt. Just no action.

The previous day (Sept 27, 2006) saw an open of .155 and a close of .165 with 55,500 shares traded.

The following day (September 29, 2006) saw an open of .16 and a close of .15 with 45,500 shares traded. A scandelous day of profit taking after no volume the previous day. A drop of 10%!

The stock never saw .165 cents again until November 3 when it opened on large volume (773K traded). It had even dropped as low as .135 cents during those weeks. Damn hedgies!

Morale of the story: Just because there is less demand on a certain day or week or even month does not mean being long and patient is a bad idea, even if the share price drops 10% from an earlier close of two days (.165 to .15).

There was a person on the NOT board in November who decided to sell off NOT before a trip to Italy. She had 250K shares at an average purchase price of .42 cents at the beginning of 2005.

She bought these shares on the advice of a geologist friend whom they trusted. She talked of a high prospect property called Windfall that Noront was busy exploring. She carried the shares for almost 2 years. I say almost as she sold most of the shares at .15 three weeks before the Windfall halt at the end of November 2006. When the stock opened at .30 and started to climb, she sold the remainder in the .40s, cutting her losses from years earlier. The stock jumped a few days later to 1.07 at which point many new investors bought in from 1.07 all the way down to .29 cents in August of 2007.

My point is that she made a decision based on what was kwown at the time (the stock was dead since mid 2005) and frustration after being patient so long. Who could blame her? I am not saying she would have held till now if she had held for three more weeks, but if she had, at today's prices her 250K of shares purchased at 100K would be worth a cool million dollars rather than 50 - 60K she salvaged to cut her losses. This is one of many heartbreaking stories of the TSX. Those stories of those who almost made it.

There are also many stories of joy. Ask anyone who bought a single share of Noront from August 27, 2007 back to its inception. Those that almost made it. One person I know who is happy is the secretary. Last year, after the PP was announced, Noront granted its executives, directors, consultants and one employee stock options. At the time we looked to see who was on the Noront payroll. Richard the executive, some directors like Novak, ..., the consulting geologists, and then an employee. Likely not the web master. Most likely the secretary as she is always in the office and likely was given some options for all her work over the years.

A 100,000 options at .75 cents to be exact.

Now at the time this was no big deal. The share price was at .75 cents. The institutions just got there 30M shares at .50 cents, as well as 22.5 million warrants at .75. But a nice Xmas gift to the employees none the less. I wonder how it must have felt for her when she saw the stock manipulated down into the low 70s, then 60s, then .50s, all the way down to .29 in August.

I don't think she cares now. At a cost of $75,000, she can cash in those 100K of options for a nice $408,000 as I write. It is no wonder the office is partying. I bet the drinks are on her :)

Every investment has risk and is a gamble. Some take patience - a lot of patience. The difference between cutting losses and winning a lotto ticket in this case was a short ten months.

Where will we be ten months from now? Will $4 look like .16 cents looked a year ago if the stock is trading at $50? Or will it still be at $4 requiring more patience from longs as we await news on more permits, resource estimates, new drill holes, ...

Time tells all. With the drill values I saw yesterday we will not be at $4 very long. The key is to find a great company with good properties and wait for the stock to catch up.

M1.