Don I know I am biased because I live in Sudbury but I will be very surprised if Xstrata does not step up to the plate soon.

They just raised some $$$ in London.

They are already experienced and big in ferrochrome.

There are problems in South Africa.

They are already in Ontario and have access to infrastructure, labour, mining supply and they already have management here in Sudbury.

Lets look at it another way. They want to protect their market share. If someone else gets the RoF, suddenly their market share is threatened. If I were a share holder of xstrata and they don't make a play for RoF, I would be very worried about my investment.

I could also use some of the same logic to support CVRD. They are into iron ore as is Cliffs and they too have the same access to labour etc through Vale Inco. But their current market share is not threatened by the chrome at RoF....until more nickel is discovered.

There has been no news from NOT for a long time. Now FWR has gone silent. Does this mean negotiations are underway?

SN