I have previously worked in thegold mining industry, mind you as a Controller, these recoveries are staggering.

Now all we need to have is a good reserve base, a reasonable grade, and a reasonable mining and milling cost.

eja

Good afternoon everyone.

I have been reading this forum for a long time and recently I have noticed some discussion regarding the supply of chromium. According to a web site devoted to the Strategic Minerals in the US it says that chromium is one of these minerals and that South Africa and Zimbabwe contain 98% of the world's reserves of this mineral.

A we all know South Africa is not the safest or more stable country in the world, and their govenrment has been trying to force the major mining companies to transfer ownership of some of the mines to native South Africans. Also if memory serves me right there are some problems relating to electrical power in the country, which affects production. A few years ago I worked with a US geologist who had worked in SA and he was quite pleased to leave that country, he said that it was not safe for him and his familly.

A supply of chromium coming from the ROF, in a stable and secure such as Canada ,for use by US companies I am certain that we would have a long list of ready customers lined up for our product. I am sure that Cliffs has made this determination already and they want to secure this product for their customers. I believe that Cliffs will want to secure all deposits of chromium in the ROF and will eventually target any company that has a good deposit in the ROF. As we all know they have taken over FWR and SPQ and they will not stop there, PRB's deposit could be a target for them. Time will tell.

Go to the following web site to check this info:

http://www.emporia.edu/earthsci/amber/go336/natalie/newindex.htm

I read the same article and had somewhat the same concerns that you have.

It is true that the environmental issues are mentioned in the article and that "China has already moved to shut scores of high-polluting coal plants and could set its sights on smelters used to produce NPI". Also the production process depends on "inexpensive electricity", and outside of China I don't know where you find that.

The article says that the production costs are between $7 and $8 a pound at present. Combine that with the fact that China will have to increase its currency in the future and the cost per pound will necessarily have to increase. Also the fact that Chinese workers will receive wage increases in the future and the possible increase in production costs due to increases in the price of "cheap electricity" will also have an effect on the cost of production.

However it is certainly true that the negatives brought about by the production of NPI is certainly something to worry about in the future pricing of NI.

However if the price of NI stays in the $8 to $10 range a future producer like NOT would still do well. NOT is in the exploration phase and has a large area of land to explore. When, and not if, NOT discovers additional mineral resources it will become a takeover target and they will probably never get to the production phase itself.

I still see NOT as a good investment and look forward to a stock price gain in the future. As many have said previously, "Let the drilling prove the deposits".

Good luck to all.

EJA

You also have to apply the recovery rate to this calculation. Somewhere around 80% recovery would be appropriate I expect.

Your $5.4 billion would be reduced by approx $1.0 billion.

I posted this on the SPQ site this morning but I think that it is relevent to all ROF companies.

An article in the Globe & Mail talks about the expected M&A activity in the mining sector this year. They mention both Cliffs and Xstrata as possible takeover targets,

I think that this could have an impact on NOT during the course of the year as I believe that all ROF companies that have made discoveries could be in play.

Below is a link to the article in question.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/miners-gear-up-for-ma-flurry/article1516721/

I just read an article in the Globe & Mail that talks about the expected M&A activity in the mining sector this year.

It is interesting to note that two of the companies listed as potential take over targets are Cliffs and Xstrata.

It seems as there will be a lot of M&A acxtion this year, and the ROF may be a target.

I hope that this gives the ROF companies a boost.

I have pasted a link to the article, I hope that it works, this is the first time that I have tried this.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/miners-gear-up-for-ma-flurry/article1516721/