Back in the 50s and 60s, Falconbridge were exploring the Raglan mineral belt. In the 80's, they knew they had excellent prospects and around 1990 began planning a mine that eventually opened in1998. This mining business operates at a snails pace until production starts and then it can't move fast enough. Back then, as far as I can find out they had proven and probable reserves of 11.5 million tonnes at about 3% nickel, .77% Cu, and no PGMs. In Jan 2009, I found one report that their reserves are 6.27 million proven and 9.39 MT probable at the same relative grades, so they have found more ore which is generally the case with mines. By law, they have to continue to explore their claims and need to do so anyway for sustainablity. So if we go back to when they had 11.5MT, Falconbridge was looking at a remote area where the ave temp is -10C, nearest shipping point is 100km away with a short shipping season even with ice breakers and the permafrost extends beyond 400m. Anyone who has dealt with permafrost knows the magnitude of that challenge. First nations were not receptive. The area was severely infrastructurally challenged. Initial mine construction estimates were $600 million in 1990 dollars. So to deal with this they added execs and directors who were pioneers in First Nation relations, others who had business ties with the North, who were experts in mining in the North. They gave the Innuit $50 million in trade agreements, entered into a $11 million trucking contract with locals and guarenteed a 20% first nation workforce composition. They had consultants prepare all the necessary advise and technical plans.

By now, anyone who has followed NOT will see the parallels in what traqnspired at Raglan and in what is transpiring at the ROF. The difference is Falconbridge was a mid tier comany not unlike Cliffs and they had more resources and profile but the process is still the same. NOT says they have 11 MT but not much of it proven yet. Drilling to prove up that amount is tedious, exhaustive and not really reportable until the end result. Raglan is in a mineral belt, Sudbury is in a mineral belt, Thompson is in a mineral belt and NOT is in a mineral belt. NOTs belt is brand new in discovery terms and they have control over a huge swath of the RED LIne which has proven to be significant. There will be further discoveries.

At the Raglan belt, a minor exploration company Gold Brook drilled 131m of 0.81% Ni, 0.87% Cu and 3.01g/t PGMs and a further 78m of 0.91% ni, 1.11% Cu and 2.94g/t PGMs. Not too shabby. They have a 43-101 which shows they have about 27 million tonnes of this stuff, but all in indicated or inferred. They are trading at 21 cents and have not traded much higher. They have about the same share float as NOT. The point of this is we need to get tonnage into proven and probable and that takes time, money and monotony, As for news on extentions and new location drilling, fill your boots in criticizing the BOD for keeping us in the dark.