From the PR

Merit Consultants International Inc. of Vancouver, British Columbia has been contracted by Copper Fox to perform a peer review of the Feasibility Study.

...from Merits website

Committed to keeping the scope of a project in the "Owner's Control", Merit acts as an extension of the Owner's development team and assists in the selection and co-ordination of resources best suited to a particular project.

What Merit does is not consistent with what Copper Fox would need

They consult with developers, not explorers

I think Merit was a directed study for Teck, probably with a fee reimbursement arrangement in keeping with Teck's studied resistance to allowing any public interest to be shown in the project

This appears to be a stroke of brilliance on Elmer's part

Simultaneously Copper Fox will be performing its own internal review to be led by Matt Bender,

Really difficult to figure out exactly how, or if Mr Bender is compensated by CUU, or is simply working due diligence on behalf of his daytime job for Newmont...which I think is likely