Biased or not Curt22, you have demonstrated how an exploration company is volatile in price while a big cap is as slow as molasses. And I am not even addressing the warrant issue.

An argument can be made that mid cap is a safer venue in a poor economy during which prices can fall drasticly.

However one has to realize that we are no longer in 2006 but in the tail end of 2009 when the world economy, Canadian in particular, is in a recovery instead of free fall. Prices from now on are going to go up, especially the metals at hand.

Cliffs on the other hand is in the US and their economy is in the dumps with little recovery possibility ( Just look at the continued job losses, repossesions are as bad as ever and the derivatives issue is getting worse ). They will benefit from metal prices but will suffer from the US dollar which could negate the metal prices for them through increased operational costs.

Returning to Curt's example:
The odds of low share price for Noront are small while on the high side are expected due to above economic argument, large land hold by Noront and continued drilling on those lands. You are thus far seeing only an example from the land holdings and drilling, there is much more to come.

You all have seen a $7 Noront sp with a much smaller known resource, so what price do you expect to see in a 'normal' market and what are the possibilities in a hot market or when big caps get into the act. Big Caps will come probably sooner if NOT and FWR are joined, while Cliffs could easily be an aquisition impediment to them. If Noront is successful do you think it will stop at Freewest? They will soon after aquire many of the other small neighbours, I have no doubt.

That $3.50 Noront price used is there merely for numerical comparison, $7 is a very realistic price while possibilities are well above $10 if any note worthy event occurs.