And I just can't seem to nail it down, but I am going to give it a try...

I absolutely see this bid for Freewest as a positive thing, and I see it as a win/win situation whichever way the outcome falls. Bear with me for a bit...

Noront is on the cusp of putting out an NI 43-101 on it's chromite. That is a fact. I am expecting this to happen before year's end, from the news and comments made by Mr. Hansen. Now, here's my thought...

It really doesn't matter if we get Freewest or not. We are about to come out with our own Chromite deposit size and grades and metalurgic studies along with seperation studies etc. OK, how big is this deposit? Some speculate 40+ million tons, some say 30 million. The Freewest board suggests something much more "puny", ha ha. These same posters would have you believe that their deposit is worth $30-$0 billion dollars for Black Thor alone... I have now heard revised speculations of 60ish million tons... Which is good.

My thought that keeps getting in the way is that if Noront is on the slightly "higher" tonnage estimate, which I have no idea if it is or not, then Noront may have approx. 2/3 the amount of chromite of Freewest, as we stand today...

So, if we have that kind of tonnage, then if Noront can get Cliffs to state that Freewest's chromite is going to make them 1.5 billion dollars/year, then perhaps Noront's chromite that they would probably have to ship to Europe (because Cliffs will have the North American market sewn up) for their 1-1.5 billion dollars/year for only 23 years instead of 30.......

What I am trying to say is that even if Noront does NOT succeed in aquiring Freewest, they may have just woken up the world as to the "actual value" of our properties as well. If the market values our chromite at under $1, maybe they will start to see the value in this chromite now that there is a bidding war going on for Freewest and Noront's s/p may increase shortly after releasing their 43-101....

Am I making any sense? Of course Noront's chromite has value. Mr. Nemis told me that himself about a year and a half ago. So Cliffs gets control of Freewest's chromite for now... What do you think Xtrata would do to Cliffs if they decided to enter the area and mine the Noront Chromite??? Maybe put Cliffs chromite on hold for 20 years??? Xtrata has ALL the ins when it comes to selling the stuff. They are the largest seller of ferro-chrome right now, I think.

So, all this talk of, "mine is bigger than yours" is really nonsense. A "major" major like Xtrata, if they decide to get into the game, could make Cliffs look silly in a nano-second, I think. I am just praying that this is the situation that is working itself out in the Noront Boardroom as we sit here and read post apon post of, " mine is better than yours"...

Sum-for-all summed it all up very nicely. There is really nothing that you or I can do with our measly amount of shares in Noront and Freewest. Don't kid yourselves. I honestly believe that there are serious games afoot that are being played with serious money (not the little pittances played by you and I, don't get me wrong, your money is important to you as my money is important to me) that will decide the outcome of who will be buying out who. I am just getting excited as it almost looks like the end game is almost apon us... That is my prayer, that the end game is here soon. I only mean soon as in getting serious value for our shares when enough ore has been catalogued...

So, I am even more confused than when I started this post. Is this making any sense, these ramblings? I think Noront is seriously trying to aquire Freewest, but I also think that we will win from this even if they don't aquire Freewest... That's my final answer :-}

Everyone have a good night and hopefully it will start to "snow" very soon. I am looking forward to the "flurries" mentioned regarding Noront. Let's hope there is some serious snow happening by Christmas :-}

God Bless all Noront Shareholders.

Herb