When I posted earlier about whether one should consider betting all on Noront, as opposed to the general principle of 'not putting all of one's eggs in the same basket', I did not specifically mention the fact that Noront, in and of itself is considerably diversified so as to reduce the risks typically inherent in investing everything in one company. Yes, Noront has made what will likely be the richest discovery of the century at McFaulds. Yes, it is in Ontario, Canada, probably the world's most 'mining friendly' jurisdiction. But suppose something unexpected happened. Suppose Probe or some other company in the region came in and disputed Noront's Eagle One discovery (similar to the Aquiline vs. IMA case in Argentina). Or suppose that an economic recession were so severe and had such worldwide repercussions that the demand for nickle dried up and the price of nickel dropped severely. There are other unexpected and unfortunate scenarios one might come up with. What if the companies supplying the drills and crews to the project went bankrupt and their equipment and crews were removed? I don't expect such events, and consider them so extremely remote as to be almost negligible. But, for arguments sake, let's say something happened to take away what Noront has at Eagle One. Noront is still diversified in that they hold a lot of other ground in the surrounding area. NOT is also diversified in that they have some joint venture partners (and are in the process of getting more) in the area to share the expense and the risk of drilling many other anomalies with similar signatures to that found at Eagle One. NOT is further diversified in that they have the Windfall Lake gold project in another part of Canada. That project alone IMO will likely soon be worth more than the current share price. They have even diversified themselves there by joint venturing with Freewest and Murgor on the adjoining property where other intercepts of gold ore have been hit. Noront is further diversified by the Burnt Hill tungsten/molybdenum project, also in the mining-friendly, and politically stable juridiction of Canada. This is being fast tracked to become an operational mine (within the next year I think, if memory serves). But wait - that's not all folks! Behind doors number 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, etc., are other promising projects. Mr. Nemis says there should be some very good news coming out of China soon on their project there. Then there's the projects in Mexico that were recently re-negotiated. You can go to NOT's website and read all about the other ones. But, I can tell you that you would be hard pressed to find another junior exploration company out there that has the number of quality projects going on. In fact, I don't believe you can find one. Bottom line is that Noront has, through its many quality projects, and its wise joint venturing, created for itself such diversification as to diminish the risks normally associated with betting all on one company. This is why someone can justify ignoring the general principle of being diversified (through buying multiple companies), and follow the 'exception to the rule' of putting all their money on one company. And for those who like a little theological basis for their decisions: "The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field." (Matthew 13:34 NASV) Even Jesus could relate to mining discoveries!
