An issue that is often not considered by some of the more sociopathic members of the financial industry, is in fact, the implied social contract under which companies must operate in order to be successful in a social democracy. For example, recent and repeated judgements rendered by our supreme court, have very strongly reinforced the requirement to consult with First Nations communities affected by resource extraction operations in Canada.
The Noront operations are located in traditional use territory of First Nations in northern Ontario. Both the Ontario Government and Noront (the current management) have been carefully working at the matter of consultation with those First Nations as well as negotiating arrangements that will socially benefit them as a result of Noront’s activities. The knowledge that a company has at least a modest interest in their well being gives local people some comfort. This is what sensible management does both as a matter of course, and as a means to avert social unrest that can cost millions or even shut an operation out of an area. I would suggest that one should be quite concerned about who is managing the Noront operations for this very reason.
It is entirely reasonable to assume that a hedge fund that seeks pure profit only, without consideration for social values, may indeed make the First Nations in the area very uncomfortable. An astute poster from yesterday (sorry, I forgot the name) actually noted that maybe someone should ask the local First Nations how they feel about this. I submit that any holder of Noront shares must view this issue with great care. In virtually every instance of a successful large resource extraction operation in Canada, the bottomline is either protected or increased by keeping oneself out of social difficulty. I seriously doubt that our new found (and self purported) "friends" have considered, or would consider this to be important. In my experience, social issues have brought many large companies to their knees and in some areas have effectively shut mining out for years (think of Northern BC until quite recently).
This message is really for the institutional or industrial shareholders that may be thinking of supporting the Rosseau bid for control. While this might look like a quick route to control and short term profits, the board that is being proposed by Rosseau could very well lose it all for you via their ignorance of such important details in an area where such things are carefully watched.
RHammer
