First off. What kind of deal will we get? A buyout will come at a big premium. We have control of everything up to the election. Then negotiations for the JV must occur and we control everything except Teck's option. The option triggers the JV negotiation. We get the voting shares and control all the development until Teck has earned back in by spending every dollar. At that point Teck has say according to its opt in.

Because of this people expect Teck to buy us out entirely. But, if we demand too much Teck will look at a reduced roll. Depending on their money I expect the 60/40. I see that every action we've taken indicates we are positioning for that. I won't be surprised to see us talk to buyers for the concentrate. Mind you, they might want to keep that secret for a while. You'll also notice that big players have been to the hill and yet no one moved. Another indicator that high level talks are in progress.

Again, this puts us in control. Teck may not like the arrangement and could opt for 20% or just the royalty depending on how deep they get into iron. People think Teck would have to have this pried out of their cold dead hands. Not so. If the iron out runs the SC deposit over 5-10 years (perhaps 2 years) then they would be ahead by taking the royalty. They could focus future developments in Chile and do just fine.

In all cases we get the better. Yes, there would be an initial pain. People would think something went terribly wrong. Then would come the equity finance and the offers. For 100% certain, and offer we could live with would come. 5 other majors need copper. They are already diversified. It's Teck who needs to diversify and increase verticle integration. We'll see more majors doing that over the next 3 years or so.

I've been told that the FS is on schedule for the Q end. We are just tinkering with the numbers so there's no problem that might bite us. I've also been told that the money people are very interested and are waiting like us for Teck to move. Another source told me the permits have been agreed to and just require the peper work and time allowances. One source told me to watch Nova Gold/Copper as they may be in talks with another major about us and our district. They have powerful partners. The other players form what I call Team Canada. Together, they have and want controling interest from BC's North all the way to Alaska. Take into account the plans for power and a 6 lane hiway plus the pipelines and infastructure plans and it sure looks like a major action is taking place.

In view of this I don't see Teck as a worry. Because of this I think Teck will work very hard to make us happy. I know Elmer would never be able to talk about this. He probably has a good idea what Teck is doing in the iron area but can't even hint at it. So we have to watch their actions and read the tea leaves.

The selling we are seeing may indicate the uncertainty. The blocks are probably pp or old compensation shares. While this may lower our price for three weeks it in no way demonstrates that they know any better than we. They are just protecting the money. In one way they are a self fulfilling prophecy where the sp is concerned.