I just thought I'd provide an update to something I may have mentioned to some of you, and those of you who are not familiar with the story.

Barrick Gold is a Canadian public company and the world's largest gold corporation. It was last year that they swallowed up the other Canadian gold juggernaut, Placer-Dome, to gain that title. A quick look at their Wikipedia article will tell you that they are not well-liked in the industry right now.

In fact, Barrick is currently making a hostile bid to take over one of our best clients, NovaGold Resources. The story made the Google News front page today. Barrick's initial bid of $14.50 per share was ignored by shareholders, Barrick is currently offering $16 per share. However, considering that NovaGold stock is currently trading at $18, some are rather skeptical of the offer. In particular, NovaGold's management, some of whom we work with, feel that the bid vastly undervalues their company. They also feel a bit betrayed by the company they partnered with to jointly develop certain gold properties. Needless to say, it's a bitter situation.

Frankly, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the team at NovaGold. After all, we don't want to lose one of our best clients.