It's also possible that they've had to extend the time period for discussions due to arguing about the value of drill results.  There may be drill results available that haven't been publicly released yet for legal reasons that we don't understand.  Wyloo is an insider, and therefore may be privy to such results.  That would not apply to BHP.

As much as everyone likes to lambast the Board (and I've been guilty of that in the past), there comes a time when you have to realize that their liability exposure is quite significant if they're not playing this game by the rules.  There are obviously lawyers involved on all three sides, and Noront's legal counsel is presumably guiding the process, including the directive to refrain from releasing any information.

There are a lot of things happening behind the scenes right now.  And I suspect that things are not what we expect.  Oh to be a fly on the wall of the Noront board room ...