I think this news release was meant to address two key points, and counter arguments by Rosseau. These points seem to be key to Rosseaus bid to overthrow the current BOD and as such needed to be addressed. Granted it comes with so-so news of tonnage and it would have been nice to have a barn burner release but the arguments still needed to be made.
1. "The total cost of the underground exploration program to date has cost approximately $12.5 mil. which is well within budget. The program was financed in advance by a $15.0 mil. flow through private placement in December, 2006 through the efforts of IBK Capital, the Company's financial advisors....approximately 35 percent of the total underground costs is being returned to the Company for more exploration and future benefits to our shareholders."
This refutes Rosseau's claim that Noront has wasted 15 million on Windfall that should have gone into the ROF. When in fact our final cost after government rebate is between 8 and 9 mil.
2. The recent completion at Windfall Lake of Phase 1 of the underground ramping program has fulfilled the obligation to the Noront shareholders, when Noront completed a financing in December, 2006 through IBK Capital, of $15.0 mil. through the private placement of units of common shares and warrants to further explore and assess the Windfall Lake gold discoveries. In addition to the latter commitment being fulfilled, Noront's shareholders have received the unexpected bonus of sharing in the added value to Noront's asset worth through the Copper-Nickel-PGE and Chromium discoveries in the McFaulds Lake area of northern Ontario.
This clearly states that we had a contractual obligation to shareholders to complete the ramp, and that the pp clearly took place before the discovery in Mcfaulds.
Rosseau had taken it upon themselves to make Mcfaulds the centre of attention in this takeover bid and as such, NOT has to shift focus, if only temporarily to the ROF. Rosseau is not interested in Windfall. It will be there in a few months or a year. However, next week, and more than likely again later, we fight for Mcfaulds. Looking down the road, Windfall may have to take a back seat if we are to develope the ROF and hang on to our land before another takeover attempt. There may still be lots of gold at windfall, but it won't help us with our current predicament (barring a huge news release reporting however many oz/ton) Strategically I think shutting down for the winter and concentrating on fighting for Mcfaulds is not a bad plan.
Just my opinion.
