We are a public company!! Since when does what Patrick may or may not want matter all that much in the end. Of course they are publicly saying they want to mine it themselves.....what else could they say? We are waiting on a takeover bid?? As any business would do,  they need to give the appearance that they are moving ahead.

The majors are all interested and just waiting for the stability agreement to be signed. They are all starting to run low on reserves and are salivating over Aurelian, by far the best find of this cycle. Once the agreement is signed there will be multiple bids imo. Any secret harbouring to build the mine themselves will be irrelevant at that point.