Hey, just a reminder - the option filings posted by sparkligwatr were based on options granted September 20, 2007. There are old news, very old news, even though they just popped up on Ink reports now.

So there was no cash giveaway in granting options at 55 cents - the stock price was in that range at the time, last September.

Here is a reference for the original filing.

The information is just an annual filing for what happened last Fall. The options listed (3.4 million) don't even fully vest until 18 months are up. 25% vested immediately, and another 12.5% every 3 months thereafter - i.e. 50% had vested by March 20, 2008. By way of note, the filings are not correct in terms of exercise price - all were at 55 cents, whereas the filings show either blank or $1.00.

There was nothing outrageous in terms of cash about these options (maybe something about access and dilution), they are nothing new, and it doesn't even say anything about new insider thoughts about the company - nothing has changed.

Here is the source for the recent options grant filing information that sparkligwatr reported.

In this latest Ink report it appears odd to see the huge difference in dates between options granting (Sep. 20 2007) and filing date (Apr 10, 11 and 16 2008), whereas the exercise of options are filed immediately and show up without delay.

I assume the gap in dates is acceptable to the TSX for mere granting, as opposed to exercise, as the grant of options was already documented in a public release (per first reference above).

The bottom line - we got excited somewhat for old news - although it's worthwhile reconsidering it.

Still - the insiders had the drill results in front of them when they did the options grant last Fall, so indeed they were giving themselves Christmas early before releasing the results.

I don't know if that was entirely playing cricket, but then I'm more familiar with options granting in regular operating companies. Maybe another forum member has a better perspective on typical or proper behavior for exploration companies where insiders give themselves a huge options advantage where they have foreknowledge of massive news that changes what the whole company is about.

Water under the bridge for now, but if we see a huge options grant again - as another forum member pointed out - take note!

P.S. Although I'm ok with that Sep. 20 options grant as of now, if any reader has experience with how proper and/or characteristic it was, please write in.