I personally don't think ZEN board would be interested in entertaining any offers other than for the purchase of the whole project

What did AE say "everything is on the table"? By no means would I dismiss the strategic partner route much like DF did. AE also mentioned (to someone can't recall wh0 or it was at the AGM) that such a partner would be for no more than 10% of the project.

Curiously, we have Stowe on board, a DF veteran, and they did exactly that - a 10% sell off - they gave Teck the option of 5 or 10%. This immediatly (a) legitimized the project (b) set the floor for the value (c) provided an infusion of cash for moving toward production and (c) because of the standstill agreement it tightened thr grip on shares to avoid a hostile takeover.