The alleged 4 year clause would have been a throwaway term in the agreement when Salazar and Teck started this exercise

Salazar would want it becuase it is an established tactic that, if possible, the financially stable entity can sometimes simply starve out a junior entity, waiting for lab results, for instance

Since there must have been a sense, in the Teck geology shop, that there was little chance of Copper Fox coming up with a mine, let the little guys snoop around and give'em the 4 year guarantee (yuck, yuck)

Seems to me that it would figure into Tecks thinking here, if is is real and enforceable