Hi All,
In a bad mood so I will try to keep this to the point. I don't mind when Noront drops with the market but when it drops on excellent news or when everything else is green then I get upset.
I had a chance to read through the annual report yesterday. What struck me as I read all of the materials is again the lack of Windfall information. Given that the company had deferred expenses of over 6M allocated to the property at Windfall, it did made a line on the financial statements. It also made a small paragrpah on the MD&A which mentioned visible gold at Hole-17 in June. That was it.
A lot of other properties were listed, some I had not remembered. There was one flagged (NEW) and some other non-ROF where $3M will be spent.
But what was really surprising was that in the three page letter from Richard outlining the company's year, it was all focussed on McFaulds. Not one mention of the ramp, the progress at Windfall, the gold prospect in light of high gold prices.
So I did what every good DDer does and went to the Murgor and FreeWest web sites and filings to try to find out some information on Windfall given the current operator seems to have neglected to mention anything in the current package that was relevant since June.
FreeWest has the best information. At least in terms of geo pictures. Where the holes are, what some of the historical results have been, and those EM pics that geos like to post. Not much they are hiding in terms of these surveys. Mind you, the information ended at the JV border.
Murgor had no pictures but their MD&A stated that they are awaiting a report from Noront. They are also awaiting the assay results from Noront from zones F-11 and F-17 where visible gold was seen in June. Let's see -- July, August, September, October.
Did Bonnie and Clyde steal the drill cores?
I am going to give Richard the benefit of the doubt here and say that if he is cooking up something good, I am willing to wait for the meal. I realize that when strategic negotiations are going on that news cannot be released. As long as he has the shareholder's (that means all shareholders including us retailers) best interests in mind, then I wish him well in whatever it is he is up to.
BUT:
If Noront knows that Windfall has turned out to be a dud and they have not released this information to us, I will buy the fan and bring it to the meeting. The reason: We have seen a 50% share price drop in the past two weeks. Even in bad markets there are people willing to invest in undervalued plays. Especially those with excellent properties. If the share price continues to fall with the increased volumes we saw today and it turns out that Windfall results were sub-par, then it will be obvious which shareholders benefitted from prior news. It will not be the one's posting on here.
No one with a strong belief in this company would have sold under a minimum of $3 unless it was to day trade. That is unless there was a reason to sell such as a divorce settlement, margin cover, insider information, ...
At the end of the day I need to know why Richard and Noront have distanced themselves from what was once the gem in the crown for Noront - this being Windfall. What is the big secret here? If by keeping it secret we will all prosper in the future, then by all means keep it low-key until all the I's are crossed and the T's are dotted. But try not to make is so obvious by completely ignoring the property.
But if they are minimalizing Windfall because of less than expected outcomes, then just tell us and pull the tooth already. Pretending Windfall does not exists does not make it go away.
It is time for an update on Windfall from Richard! If not now then by the AGM. Anything else is irresponsible to those who have kept the faith in Windfall and Noront since December 2006 as we have no information to assist us in light of this rapidly dropping share price.
Holding but still expect to be provided some information once in awhile,
M1.
