Analyst Warren Bevan, in a commentary posted on the Gold Eagle website, dated April 4th, entitled, "Will History Rhyme?" made the following observation:

"Miners are still having no trouble raising cash as long as they have a resource. China is investing heavily in mines and many miners are going directly to the Chinese, skipping even attempting to raise cash in traditional markets. While some would argue that they don't want the Chinese to own everything, to which I agree, I also believe it far better to have them holding the companies rather than the scalper hedge funds and naked shorts which have plagued and suppressed the mining industry for far to long."

"In fact I had some meetings this past week with a new grass roots exploration company. One item they shared was the fact that they are in a good position since not many shares are out yet and are tightly held making their stock less prone to shorting. They said shorting of junior and exploration companies is just a part of it and they accepted that fact. The fact that so many just accept illegal naked shorting of their stock as normal business is sickening. We need people who are sick of it and want it to end in turn increasing shareholder value. If the Chinese want to own a large part of a company and shorting of the stock is reduced as a result then I am all for it." (emphasis added)

As for Noront, and other junior explorers operating in the Ring of Fire, some news leaked out that Chinalco has been doing some "looking around" in the area. Of course, we know that Cliffs already purchased partial ownership in one of the explorers in the area (KWG), and that other non-Chinese majors have also been doing some investigatory research into companies in the area.

There has also been a lot of news recently about the recent G-20 Summit meeting in Europe and how the Chinese reiterated very strongly their dissatisfaction with the U.S. dollar remaining the world reserve currency. China urged that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) be authorized to issue more SDR's (Special Drawing Rights - a type of international currency based on a mix of the Euro, Yen, Pound, and Dollar), and along with Russia suggested this as the new world reserve currency.

The Chinese hold such a vast amount of U.S. dollars in their treasury, and are hopping mad about the steps being taken by America to rapidly devalue the worth of their currency through their economic policies. One of China's strategies to counteract this devaluation of the dollar (which makes up a substantial amount of their national reserves) is to spend their U.S. dollars as quickly as possible by buying tangible assets before the dollar loses more value.

Therefore, the Chinese are on a buying spree around the world, and are investing in, among other things, mines and mineral exploration companies. This "urge to splurge" by buying up or investing in property and companies in foreign countries may turn out to be a blessing for shareholders in companies like Noront.

Even if Noront does not get a direct bid for partial or full ownership from the Chinese, the fact that they may be considering such a move in the Ring of Fire might motivate other majors to speed up their plans to make some major investments in companies working in the ROF, so as not to be one of the losers when the game of "musical chairs" ends and some unlucky companies are left without a chair to occupy in the ROF.

Bottom line is that the reckless inflation of the U.S. currency may actually prove to be a boon for investors in Noront and the other ROF companies.