"Wondering if investors could be waiting to pull the trigger until LBSR has those permits in hand?"

...depends on what you mean by "investors".

Permits, in my opinion, don't mean anything to the stock market. That's not to say that some people will not ignorantly trade on the news when it comes, but it is really meaningless without having a partner.

If by "investors" you mean prospective partners, then my guess is maybe, but I don't think so. They could as much proceed from a "letter of intent" at this point as they could following issuance of permits, which are pretty much a given anyway.

Cheers,

VP