There were unfinished modules in the BFS wire up. They did want to see the holes and have the opportunity to consider a delay to include them. It is still possible that a wow hole might change all our minds but we'd measure that against the possibility of a total economic collapse. 408 to 415 expanded the pit by 3 billion bucks or so. They needed to hear what Teck thought about that. Did Teck want it included or was it good enough? It was good enough so we rush to complete. The block modelling needed completion. The holes allowed a higher degree of confidence. Teck accepts the model as true. Then there was the timing issue. After Xmass is the best time. We wanted it in the fresh season for maximum benefit. They have given us the best chance we can get.

They looked at Teck's activities and intentions as much as we did/do. They know that we need to attract competition. This is also what's being done. Many of us suspect Teck will delay so they can buy another mine for the other main component of their business model. We want what's best for us. If it was to our advantage to wait a Q for Teck then we would but it's not just at the moment. There are others who want the clock ticking and we don't want them to get impatient and start browsing elsewhere.

As I said before, once the BFS is dropped we are done our contract. That single factor opens the door to offers. Nice clean offers. I expect CUU will continue to make inroads towards the full mining package. We should be persuing the final permits for the next stage etc. This Q should involve a lot of backroom chatting as people attempt to structure something that accomodated Teck's options. That way no one has to wait the 120 days.