Oh come on Rosedale... We know you have had a hate-on for Paddy since the beginning of RoF time, but FNC's current state of affairs hardly has much to do the him. We know Smith drilled, much to the dismay of Paddy, and simply put, Mother Nature so far has not dealt FNC any sort of winning hand - she is mainly to blame - and maybe also Smith for relying too much on the geophysicists. However, if Smith had hit he would have been and RoF hero and FNC's fortunes would haven been much different.

Smith punched 4 holes right though his prime geophysical target (look at the hole locations and drill depths) but the results were quite unexpected and so far unsatisfactory. As someone else pointed out, most great geological finds are either by accident, or quite unexpected, so the odds were probably against him despite the strong evidence 'produced' by the tea leaves of the geophysicists... Are you telling me this was all orchestrated by the 'playwright' you despise so greatly??

I take issue with your account of the FNC story below, and have inserted some objections/comments in bold. The fact is, one can take any set or combination of facts/events/circumstances and concoct a story to "fit' them, but the more it relies on conspiracy and complexity to pull it all together, the less likely it is to be true.

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Forgive me BK, this is not personal, but you really are starting to sound like a man who, if he lost a limb would regale it as a fabulous way to lose weight.

The FNC story

Delayed drilling for months, announcing drill dates, then delaying again.

They were doing geophysics and right up until just before drilling commenced they were still crunching the data. Delayed yes, but it hardly seems purposeful. Mineral explorations often encounters unaticipated and legimiate delays, or as they learn more, they have to change plans accordingly.

Finally Drilled.

Spread rumour they'd hit to retail. Price moves up.

Funny, I do not recall the price actually moving up at all on this rumour. It moved very little, if it did. The rumour 'they' may have 'spread' also results in the replacement of a drill crew. Seems like a leak to me...

Halted.

Called Noront for maps (everyone at the office thought it was tickety boo). No one mentions it's a bust.

Maybe NOT should have been a little more careful and asked a few questions.

Released a NR with bad visuals and said they'd stopped drilling.

Claimed they panicked because they saw their stock moving down and hadn't noticed the general market anarchy going on.

Seems to be more a result of bumbling inepitutdes of a geologist who is clearly not a market guru, than an 'act' of any play... An unwise move on very bad day, but that's all it was. Smith told me that he wanted evryone to have the news at the same time so that shorters could not take davantage of the situation and leave retail wondering what the f**k was going on. He did tell me later that he could also not fincance without having all material info public, hence the NR, but probably was becoming somewhat defensive of his largely criticized actions. One would expect that he might try to put the best 'spin' on what happened in such circumstances.

Then claimed they were forced to halt by Exchange.

I have spoken with Smith 5 times since his NR, and not once did he mention that he was forced to halt. The official halt notification also said it was athe request of the company, so it seems unlikely that Smith would claim to anyone that he was "forced" to halt.

Tanked the SP. Many retail throw in the towel.

Announced they were drilling more after all and they had money left over.

They would have been 'dead in the water' if they stopped drilling, and Smith was promptly advised to keep the drills turning...

Did a PP at 50 cents for 22 % dilution.

Well, they did not hit, so what do you expect?? At least they got money, which is no small feat in this market... Again, they drill right through their prime target and miss, and you are going to tell me that was all orchestrated maybe to knock the price down and get some insiders in on the cheap?

You wanna know what comes next ?

I'll tell you, and I won't kill anybody... They keep drilling and hope to hit massive Cu-Ni sulphides somewhere. Worst case and likely scenario now - they hit nothing and sell the property for the chrome.

I could tell you but I'd have to kill you........ask Paddy, he's the playwright.....

Rosedale

(not a FNC holder as I avoid companies with major shareholders who've been defendents in class action lawsuits)

Well, that strategy has served you nicely here, but only because the drill bit failed us. If Smith had hit, it would not have mattered who the major shareholders are and what lawsuits they were previously named, and you would have missed an opportunity for pofits. The issue of Paddy's past has nothing to do with the current failure. Anyway, I presume you would have also not invested in Toxic Bob's Diamondfields either then?