ok Helena, who are you working for? This sounds like a pump and dump operation to me...a month ago you wanted us to use wwf shares in place of Charmin.

I don't think this NR is bona fide...except for your remarks about DB maybe.

Rio-about a matting plant...I know some of the people trying to establish just that. They've made some headway with some of the companies that are sensitive to their "corporate citizen" image, and who want to project a "green" commitment [e.g. Imperial, Encana, Quicksilver etc.]. They continue to meet with resistance from others[e.g. EOG - i.e. Enron Oil and Gas - a big player] though, who just like to do things as they always have with the suppliers they've always dealt with - even if it means hauling wood and mats from the southern US past burnpiles in the Horne River. - go figure.

"More then 100 kms can tell you that as that is only from Sierra road in Fort Nelson,BC. Is 2.5 hours south of ft st john....Grand Prairie and from FSJ north is 4.5 hours."

============

you're right on the distabce - my error - I dropped a 0...my odometer tells me that one way Fort Nelson to Grande Prairie is 1085km - add to that the distance into the patch by an indirect route...

============

Thanks for input but infrastructure is being taking care of as Encana has initiated to a degree.....no help from U.S. or Canadian gov't...looks like private plays to lead way.

============

Enacna does own a key stretch of the road into the patch [others pay for use - Encana maintains] and they did take the lead in investing in the project initially, along with eog, devon, and others. Current investment is coming from the privates, but the province is incenting development with deferrals, so, indirectly there is public money in the play.

The big development that's been talked about is the construction of a more direct route into the Horne River - one that would cut travel time down to a reasonable daily commute. At present the province isn't showing any interest in putting any direct money in since they've just dropped a big chunk on upgrading the SYD road - it may be left to the Horne River Producers Group consortium to take it on [with deferrals attached] and the price tag of $200 million is being kicked around.

Nevertheless, the whole thing has a future - it's just the rate of development that is an unknown. Once Encana's Cabin Lake processing plant comes online, it will drive a degree of production...and then there sits the QEC lease, right in the thick of things.

FYI - had an interesting chat with an industry source in the Horne River on the subject of the relatively slow [but steady] pace of development of shale gas there. He indicated that the industry is not worried about pricing or a glut on the market but rather that development elsewhere [Montney, etc.] is being given precedence currently because the leases there have a limited shelf life and they are closing in on the expiry date. The co's have to drill it or lose it.

The Horne River is being viewed almost as money in the bank and the bigs continue to develop and explore. Interestingly for QEC shareholders, the more exploration that happens, the better the QEC property looks both as a drilling site and as a trading chip.

Rio:

Your point about matting and costs is an interesting one. All the leases in the area use matting to one extent or another depending on the conditions on the lease. Until recently almost all the matting was being made from - get this - oak shipped in from Louisiana and environs. Mats were manufactured in Grande Prairie, AB, and trucked in [roughly 100km one way].

At the same time, local loggers and mills have been out of work, and thousands of cubic metres of wood [spruce and aspen] felled in the clearing or roads and leases was being stacked and burned. Under pressure from the local Forestry Roundtable, backed by local government and, to a degree, OGC, matting and shoring materials are now being made from that wood by the smart companies...it's been good for the local economy which provides services to the patch, won some friends in the environmental world, and cut costs.

There you go...more than you ever wanted to know about drilling mats in the Horne River ;-)

If a dog won't hunt, it may be lacking in motivation.

One approach is to slip on a good sturdy pair of size 13's, preferably steel-toed, approach the dog from behind by stealth, and provide some motivation. Thereafter, just moving the boots around on the rack can send the dog into a frenzy in which all he wants to do is hunt...