Talking to EE at the AGM in July, he said that the markets would definitely affect a buyout price, and the price "now" (July 2012) and in December might be very different. Are we beholden to some typical formula that says we'll only get a 30-50% premium over the 50 or 100 day SP? No, I don't think so. But to suggest the global markets and their mini-cycles and supercycles (thus affecting the pricing, supply/demand, etc.) have no bearing makes little sense to me. Majors see further down the road, and to some degree can make the markets ... very telling that the Teck SVP in that audio talks about making money basically on the commodity price spikes.

In my opinion, there is far "less" likelihood of a $3-5 buyout as there was pre-BFS - yes, I'm well aware of the ROV and what Elmer is saying about it ... we'll see is all I can say, maybe he's right, maybe he's not ... I'd like it a lot better if Teck senior management were touting this formula for how they would value deposits. I've tempered my expectations greatly and have felt a lot better given my own personal situation unloading a chunk of what I own, even at the last month's prices and taking a loss. All about risk management here - hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

As always, may the bulls be right and may this finish up soon.