I think there are a few more possibilities. IIRC, the Salazar Agreement requires an interim JV to be reached between Teck and CUU while any final earn-in JV agreement is being negotiated. This interim agreement would then be superceded by the final JV agreement and earn-in terms. Is it not possible that Teck delivered a JV agreement to CUU shortly after our Xmas Eve telecon which supercedes the Salazar agreement and its timelines and requires CUU to go mute on any subject regarding what might or might not be going on?

If an interim agreement is in place, that would explain away a lot of the wierdness going on (quiet periods, lack of info about what did or did not get delivered and when, and timelines). Remember when Del asked Elmer about the JV clause in the Agreement during the Xmas eve telecon and Elmer seemed to get overly defensive about the question "What JV clause" (or something to that effect)? Elmer might have been a bit off balance with that question if there were a JV agreement in place or in the pipe and not ready to discuss his way around such a pointed question.