...but in the "Mining Markets" magazine, brought to us by the Northern Miner folks, there's a big write up about McFauld's. I'll pick out some highlights. It's nothing earth-shattering for those of us who know the story, but nice to see it in print anyways.
"Ring of Fire" Becoming "Ball of Fire" - Virginia Heffernan
( picture of RN directly below headline)
"The mining world now believes this is an area of consequence and so does the mining supply world" says Kirk McKinnon, president of MacDonald Mines ( BMK-V), one of the largest landholders in the region next to Noront. Suppliers just don't set up shop and cultivate relationships with mining companies if there isn't a critical mass and something of consequence there."
Here's a snippet re :IBK:( I'm guessing he's speaking for the whole area, not Noront in particular).
"We'll have 15 rigs drilling over the next month or two, but if the success rate continues, we could have 40 drills going by next year because every company will want a drill on their targets," says William White, president of IBK Capital, which has raised $110 million alone for the play, including $80 million for Noront."We'll have no trouble financing it because until now we have been using hard dollars and there is still the benefit of flow-through money ahead of us".
skipping ahead...
Noront has stated that the high-grade core at Eagle One could be direct-shipped without processing, potentially providing enough cash flow to build a concentrator to process the lower-grade ore from the rest of the deposit and/or other finds.
But if economic deposits start to become a reality, major companies such as Vale Inco, a subsidiary of Brazil's Vale, or Xstrata may decide at some stage of the play to step in and buy out the successful explorers.
"We'll continue to be able to finance at higher prices, and eventually a major mining company will come in and buy majority interests in these juniors, " says White, without missing a beat. "The infrastructure of the major companies in Sudbury and Timmins needs this kind of feed so you have a market already in place".
-The author is a freelance writer specializing in mining issues, and principal of Toronto-based Geopen Communications ( www.geopen.com)
