I wrote Dave Webb to ask a few questions. As always, he answered promptly:

Q1: Was the 16 Oct 08 scoping session with MVEIRB held? What is the next benchmark in that process? What are the benchmarks for the full EA process?

Ref: http://www.mveirb.nt.ca/upload/proje...

A:The scoping sessions were held as planned. They were open to the public and they went well. We’re now awaiting feedback from the MVEIRB. We expect to get a Terms of Reference from them in several weeks. The TOR spells out major concerns going forward or deficiencies in our plans. It lets us infer whether a full EA would be expected, or whether we’d be treated like Tamerlane.

Comment: I don't know what Tamerlane is...
Q2: When will you make a decision on winter drilling? Will there be some drilling during this freeze? I for one hope so. I suspect that better prices would be available while most exploration companies are stuck in cash preservation mode. Perhaps doing 20 or 30 holes this winter can give us some great news for summer 2009, with very low finding costs...

A:Our decision on winter drilling will be deferred until we need to make that decision. We can wait until the winter road has a few days left (March/April).

Q3: Will there be an operational update / press release in December, to advise us all of the status of operations at YGP. Is the site closed down completely?
A:We should have the balance of the Goodwin and Clan drillholes released soon. We’ll provide as much updated information then. We have people in camp on a care and maintenance basis.

Q4: What are the winter road operations in the pipe for February, 2009? I take it that there does not actually need to be a haul this winter. Can it be avoided alltogether, or do you plan to move some drill rigs out?

A:We’ll make our winter road decisions when we need to. We do not need a haul this winter. We have no plans to move the drills out.

Comment: I think that it's clear that unless things continue to be ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE, Dave Webb would like to get drills turning. We need to see things improve somewhat in the marketplace, for it to behave in a more rational manner, before they can make such a positive decision.

On the EA side, things are moving along. This is the real work that can be done, while exploration has to suffer a bit, a mine continues to come closer.

SKELEG