This all means that Teck is heading into the best time ever to consider apply for that EA permit. The most willing governments are in place, and they have the credibility to carry through the permit.

This statement is one of the major reasons why the EA will be approved prior to the October 2015 election (definitely much earlier than when the campaign would start). The Feds and Provincial government in place right now are Teck's best hope of a smooth approval. After the election, everything will be up in the air. Teck cannot wait till then, thats why the recent buzz surrounding a delayed/minor/cancelled drill program makes more sense: why spend more time drilling 2014 then issue a revised RE or BFS for the new EA in mid 2015. Its too late to do that sort of thing, this is primetime to improve the engineering/geomatics and get EA approval. The EA approval process also takes months once the final submission is made. (I think the provincial approval can be done within 4 months if everything is good to go.) The timeline is getting shorter folks, the March meetings with Teck should line everything up for moving this project forward.