I think the fact that Teck already partners with many of the big global mining companies on projects gives a clue to what we can expect. Seal up the whole area, then bring in the right partners to help finance this behemoth and reap the benefits for decades.

Antamina is the obvious example but they also share ownership on a number of other projects. This could be a district indeed with economy of scale making it more economic to develop.

ANTAMINA: "We have a 22.5 % interest in the mine. Our partners are BHP Billiton(33.75%), Xstrata plc (33.75%) and Mitsubishi Corporation (10%)."

See: http://www.teck.com/Generic.aspx?PAGE=Teck+Site%2fDiversified+Mining+Pages%2fCopper+Pages%2fAntamina&portalName=tc