To my mind there is only one reason for Noront to consider bringing in a major JV partner on 'all' their claim base in the ROF. This would be to cut the risk of exploration by having somebody else front one awful pile of cash.

No question finding Nickel in quantity has been tougher than initially thought and there are one pile of prime targets not even touched, other than by air geophysical survey.

For Noront to deal now rather than after a successful winter drill program would bring in fewer dollars than after sucessful exploration. With money in the bank and a more controlled 'burn rate' I see little value in pushing for a 'deal' right now.