If Ernesto is happy... in that case we can wait here for another 6 years?

To answer this question. Stand in Teck's shoes right now:

- You are currently drilling on your own tab,

- You want to maintain your credit rating, and keep a healthy balance sheet.

- The EA should to be submitted soon (or later if completely revised based on current drilling)

- The NTL will be complete in 2014 (the schaft creek extension: when required),

- Teck almost certainly will go ahead with production... sooner or later.

- Teck has a parasite Jr. attached to your 25% that goes along for the ride with effectively no additional commitments

- Teck should know the price Ernesto wants. As CG suggested, this could be closely related to the current drilling strategy. If the mine size can be expanded considerably, then Teck makes the offer Ernesto is asking for.

- However, the better the drill results, the more Ernesto could be asking for.

If you were Teck, what would you do? How long would you wait to make a decent offer to CUU so that you could choose your own MAJOR partner to commit funds towards the project?