Going it alone is a very challenging and daunting task for a junior mining companywith no substantial cash and a a promising orebody. There are physical, financial and marketing aspects to making a successful mine that only a major company can manage. The infrastructure requirements of this area and resource are great. Taking the chrome, it is likely we are going to have to mine it using underground methods which is expensive to initiate and you need specific expertise and a lot or geological structural testing. Chrome is a niche market that is currently saturated and will be for the forseeable future. Getting customers will be challenging as steel plants are set up for the chrome feeds from specific suppliers. Noront will not only have to be cost competitive but also have the metallurgical qualities that customers need. This means a lot of scientific work both inhouse and hired. Financing will only be acheived through the developement of markets so we have a bit of chicken and the egg scenario happening. For these reasons I don't see chrome being developed any time soon. However, that is not to say it won't. Glorieux explained that if we have a tripling of E1, we have the potential of making a couple billion in "profit" from the nickel. This can be used to finance the chrome and diversify the operations.
The nickle is where the real immediate value is because the market understands it and is always ready to embrace and value new promising discoveries. There is so much more of it used in the world that markets for competitively priced ore will be much easier to secure. The infrastructure and financing challenges are just as great as for the chrome and for a small company, the startup costs and startup problems will be crippling, and new operations just naturally have startup problems. Small companies don't have much capacity for operating losses and negative cash flow particularly when the debt is huge. Therefore, if Noront is successful in going it alone, its financial performance may hinder stock price to our detriment. I think all these reasons are partly why the stock is not being valued properly at this time.
In my opinion, the only sensible option is for a major to buy the properties bcause they have the inhouse expertise for every facet of mining. They have multiple operations that can support each other financially. They have markets and customers already established. They have the power to finance huge projects with the strength of their total operations and relationship with financial institutions. Some even have billions in the bank Finally, in the last decade, we have seen the amalgamation of companies and the takeover of companies that has set an environment of the "survival of the biggest". Once 49 assays come out and anothe hole gets drilled, we will be courted seriously. I hope!!!!
