Permits
Has no-one on this board ever worked with or in Govt?
I truly believe that whatever motives we assign to 'our man in Smithers', the HBK mgmt team has not shown much interest in moving the permit process along - until recently, that is. Also, they have not had the money to pay the reclaimation bond until recently. Such a lack of effort was not that unreasonable either, as the permits were simply not going to be issued until the FN agreement had been obtained and the reclaimation fee was deposited in full and cleared into Treasury.
I'd be willing to concede that from this point onwards all the delays will most likely be due to Govt, however they won't actually be delays, they will just be due internal process and approvals. And very few people in Govt are comfortable approving 'stuff'' quickly - even if the irate shareholders/taxpayers/voters of HBK are burning up the phone lines. Does anyone know who signs off on these? DM or ADM level? Ever tried to book time with a DM?
Last year, a number of posters on this board expressed firm expectations that the permits would be available well before Christmas. You know who you are. Anyone care to bet that we see these issued before Easter? Once more, I'd be happy to be proven wrong.
Chill, people.. CP, (playing Devil's advocate..again)