I found this development to be interesting and on-topic as an example of a type of deal that could be made for Noront to start mining some years down the road (after all the FN issues get squared away, environmental permitting, Economic Analyses, etc).

GMO (General Molybdenum) went up 53% yesterday on news that Hanlong Mining Investment, Inc. will finance the GMO mine at Mt. Hope arranging for a ~$650M bank loan and and $20M bridge loan. It is purchasing 25% of GMO shares for some $80M USD. The agreement included a deal for Hanlong to take delivery of some part of the molybdenum produced (used to strengthen steel).

GMO Market Cap: ~$290M USD, 72M shares outstanding. Noront is currently very much in the same ballpark in terms of market cap, albeit with more shares outstanding.

I am also pondering the possibility that our BoD might like the delay caused by the FN for the following reasons: 1) we're flush with cash 2) many of our neighbors are nowhere near as flush, and so 3) it might drive down future acquisition costs, if we're still in that hunt.