I propose a bit of logic...

FNC is highly unlikely to have received any assays yet. Therefore, the halt is highly unlikely to be about any mediocre drill results. Furthermore, a company will not halt to announce any misses on their drilling program - they just do not do that. Missing is not considered news. Rather, its just part of drilling.

If what glorieux says is true, i.e., that the news is about C-1, then you have to conclude that it must be about visuals or some other materially significant development with regards to C-1 drilling.

As others have pointed out, why would FNC halt during their drill program when they have previously heard that they will report the results when it is completed. Furthermore, why would FNC halt to report mediocre or neutral visuals? If they did not halt for visuals on hole 2, which is rumoured to have hit a few metres of massive sulphides, what would they be halting for now? The exchange would not let them halt for visuals that are unlikely to have any significant positive impact on their market cap.

If we dismiss the idea that the news is about C-1, then that leaves some sort of materially significant corporate news such as financing, Magpie, etc. However, the problem with this is that it seems unlikely, as we would have seen the news already. The news release would have been prepared in advance and released shortly after the halt.

Finally, given the market sentiment, and the need for shorts to cover on Noront, it is not implausible for somebody to spread a deliberately false rumour to take advantage of this sentiment to influence trading to their gain, particularly if they are short and desperate to cover.

One can imagine a situation where it is heard that FNC is halted on good news, so they decide to spread a somewhat negative/neutral rumour, which is the classic type of rumor to spread in this end, to help them cover their short positions on NOT.

It seems a little far fetched, I admit, but when significant sums of money are at stake, the tactics can become quite nasty. Iam not saying this is what is transpiring, but I think it is a plausible possibility.

So, for me, if the halt is about C-1, then it has to be about visuals because it is highly unlikely they have assays yet. If it is about visuals, it should be about good visuals - why would the company halt now while presumably still drilling, and why would the TSX let them? If they have finished drilling, you would expect Smith to take the time to do report as previously was indicated by the company. This should not require a delay in release, even if it warranted a halt. The same logic also applies to the news being about something other than C-1.

Regards,