IMO they have been working completely with TECK and again in my opinion they have a deal in place depending on everything getting done the right way and on TECK's time frame.

Just to bring the other side - they've given themselves options - so they shouldn't/can't be doing anything too confidential and comments such as "Teck is more up tp speed than I thought" (or something similar) don't indicate that they've been talking to high level management for a very long time either. It's possible that it's just taken this long - no strings attached, and that their expectations didn't line up with reality and as such have skewed our perception.