Thanks for the great summarization Chappy. It's certainly another wrinkle, and the points you have made, along with recent posts regarding acquisitions, and older ones about the availability of skilled labour, strengthen my suspicion that Teck would rather eliminate all responsibility and risk associated with the 4-year time limit.

It's not that I think 4 years is too tight but in this scenario there would be engineering done for the BFS that would no longer be applicable. Also, I would think the NTL puts a lot of bang in the 'positive' of a Positive Bankable Feasibility Study (5.5) and Teck has limited mitigating control if there are delays there. I also believe part of that risk management includes controlling the remaining 25%, whether directly or indirectly.

Since 12.1 of the contract gives Teck the right of first refusal, eliminating us doesn't have to happen prior to the release of the BFS . . . but I like to think it would.