I agree with what Rinky posted and I am trying to see a positive way forward. These comments might pi## people off - or they might help add a different perspective.

1. This may seem like a strange way to look at things, but I was not part of the group who participated in the PP last fall. All the money that was raised was put in by Lori and a select few. They paid for 60% of the drill program - not me. If they made some poor spending decisions, it was with money they put in, not me.

2. I believe their is gold on the property. I only come to this site occasionally, but I do try to read anything by Sculpin when I do. There are no guarantees, but everything he writes seems to suggest there is a strong chance of a significant find.

3. I am late to the SLI game. I bought a significant amount at about $2 a couple of years ago and I am down significantly. I bought more this summer and my average cost is now about 75 cents. The best way for me to recoup what I put in is for the company to actually find something.

4. Just on principle, I think the green side should fight this to the bitter end. However, that will likely mean I never get my money back. Infighting is expensive. All the money and energy will go to legal fees instead of proving up the property.

5. They likely have less than $2 million in the bank now. The reality is that they will need to raise more money. The only question is whether they allow all shareholders to buy in or do a PP again.

6. If there is cash in the bank to explore the Tesoro aggressively, I think 10 cents is a bargain. I would buy more. For a small amount of money I could bring my average cost down to 30 cents. If this is going to be a protracted legal battle, then I wouldn't put any more money into it - it will take years, if ever, for me to get my money back.

JMO

Sculpin’s explanation is the same as what I’ve heard.

Someone that had offered to help finance SLI previously was choked that SLI was now looking to raise money in China. They sold their shares. This caused larger than normal volume and a drop in the share price. SLI was told to put out a news release about any drill results they did have – that day. There was no time for a thorough analysis. Shorters and doubters did the rest.

Anyone who has followed SLI for a while knows the history of the high grades they have been pulling out of the Tesoro. Think about it. There is no way Lori would have put out that first NR if she didn’t have to.

I still think the holes in the NR were periphery holes. I don’t believe there is any nefarious plot by insiders. I think it was an unfortunate sequence of events that forced Lori to show some of her cards before she wanted to.

Meanwhile, it is business as usual at SLI. They are working hard to methodically prove up what they have.

Let me clarify…

I am not suggesting that management was trying to drill a few dud holes to throw everyone off. Silverback quoted:

“The drill holes will test high-priority drill targets identified by Titan 24 geophysical surveys and the down-dip extensions of known gold mineralization.”

Look closely at the following link:

http://agoracom.com/ir/steliasmines/forums/discussion/topics/491511-recommended-high-priority-drill-targets/messages/1572333#message

There are a bunch of “high priority drill targets” that are not drilling into the anomalies. Why not drill these first?

Let’s assume that management knows more about the property than we do (which should be obvious). Let’s assume that they have seen enough that they have decided they are going to see the whole drill program through. If the plan always was to drill all of the holes anyways…the sequence could be very important!!

Why show all your cards on the first drill? If they drill T11 and T17 and a few other holes in the anomalies first…they may not get a chance to drill the remaining holes. That is what happened to Catherine McLeod.

As successful as Arequipa was, Lori has mentioned several times that Catherine McLeod didn’t get a chance to prove up the full value of the property before the hostile offers came in.

I don’t think getting a quick buyout is enough for Lori. I think she wants a chance to prove up the full potential of the property before someone aggressively goes after it.

Have a plan. Do it right. Don’t show your cards too early.

I have been a shareholder for about a year and this is my first post.

What I’m suggesting might be a stretch for some, but I thought I would share it anyways. I think walkerboss and newbie101 might be on to something.

One of Lori’s biggest challenges is to show there is gold…to keep interest growing. But she can’t show too much, too fast, because she needs time to prove up the full potential of the property.

It makes total sense to drill the first holes around the periphery.

Take a look at this image from the link library…

http://agoracom.com/ir/steliasmines/forums/discussion/topics/491511-recommended-high-priority-drill-targets/messages/1572333#message

If you wanted excitement and interest to increase with each press release, which 12 places would you drill first?

I would want to start with the holes around the periphery…and announce the results for T11 and T17 last. Build excitement.

Drilling the holes in the periphery would also give good information about whether there was widespread dissemination of gold around the property. What if these holes showed a significant amount of gold using a cutoff of .5 g/ton? If I understand other posters correctly, I think mining could still be economically feasible…especially if you haven’t even factored in the anomalies yet. Management probably already has a decent idea about whether an open pit mine is feasible.

So…back to one of my first comments. Suppose shareholders are really starting to lose patience, so she has to put something out. Suppose Lori wants to show the gold is widespread, but she doesn’t want to show too much, too soon. (That might elicit an unwanted offer too early). She uses a higher cutoff to downplay the significance of what they have learned so far. The results using a lower cutoff can be released after they have announced results from the anomalies themselves. If the holes in the anomalies come in at a higher average grade…and they can show that a significant part of the area that they tested outside the anomalies has > .5 g/ton…then things become really interesting.

Throw in the trenching results and the deep drilling results and the majors would have a ton of information to make a decision. And the information would have been released in a sequence that would not have attracted an unwanted offer too early.

I know I am making a lot of assumptions here, but you can see how a well orchestrated plan could, and should, lead to increasing interest. And yet, there is never quite enough information for a major to act on…until Lori is ready for them to make an offer.

This type of strategy would make sense to me.