RE: Point #4 [Langmuir 1]cadomin pointed out that the recent MD&A, made this comment:
"The permitting process and the completion of the closure plan required for the advance exploration at the Langmuir No.1 Mine which includes the dewatering if that mine has not yet been completed,. It is expected those will be completed by the Spring, 2008. The underground exploration activities are designed for a reserve estimation and a bulk sample of the nickel mineralization on the 425 foot level."
This comment that it has not been completed, is obvious - but has it even been started? It seems to me that early stages of commencing this work would involve the filing of applications for a number of permits, approvals and certificates - as I know Liberty had to go through these processes.
In the case of McWatters, not counting an initial information session the company put on for the community, it looks like the official work with the Ministry of the Environment started around the first of July, with filing application for approval of the closure plan, this followed with Certificate of Approval [Air and Noise], Certificate of Approval [Industrial Sewage], and finally issuance of the Permit to Take Water, based on a decision recorded on December 19, subject to a 15 day appeal period. In other words it seems that after the work by Liberty to prepare the plan, applications, etc - there was a six month period required allowing for processing, public consultation, appeal periods etc.
ISM has not indicated if they have even started their preparation of applications and plans, but if they have this ready now, there appears to be no record in the registry of posted applications. Is this going to be another of the series of announced events that involve many months of nothing happening? It looks to me like they may have announced a spring completion date, that is already an impossibility. I wouldn't be surprised if the applications were filed tomorrow, that the permit might take until the end of the summer. Then there's the dewatering, the exploration, the bulk samples, and if the reference to the work being designed for a reserve estimation means that a 43-101 is actually going to be done, another few months. This thing could still be something for completion in the future when the annual MD&A is composed a year from now. I think that at the time of writing the MD&A, that the expected completion date for completing the permitting process was already an impossibility.
These delays aren't just a factor that will put off 43-101's for some time [if they do intend to do 43-101's]; but no one - the company or prospective acquirers can get even preliminary estimates of value until this exploration is complete. Any take-over at best is well over a year away, unless ISM is willing to let things go at partially unexplored values - that is, for peanuts.
These are the kind of uncertainties I've been referring to that will leave ISM twisting in the wind for years. I can think of few investors that will risk an investment without some definite and plausible guidance by management. Right now, I'm afraid that serious investors are increasingly unimpressed with the performance of this company.