Haven't posted in a while but here is my thinking on this. The sp is down because imho, there is alot of uncertainty right now in the global market regarding economic growth in China etc. That is why Cu prices have taken a big hit lately along with all base metal stocks. We have been hit particularly hard because there is also uncertainly regarding what Teck will do with SC. This uncertainty is what is driving our sp right now. Do I think this is temporary? Yes.

Copper prices will recover from these lows as institutional money ( hedge funds etc. ) begin to realize that China is not going to crash economically. At their lastest annual NCP ( National Congress Party ) meeting Premier Li Keqiang vowed to keep growth steady at 7.5%. They have many tools at their disposal to keep their economy growing and unlike here in N. America if they don't generate at least 10M new jobs every year there will be a people's revolt in that country that could topple the leadership. The powers that be ruling that country fear this the most so economic growth must be kept from falling at any costs.

Secondly, imho, Teck will not do anything until they have completed their optimization studies and derisk this project further. They will not act until it makes economic sense for them to act. Do I think this will happen? A BIG fat yes as we have all discussed this many times here on this BB. Many small improvements will have a dramatic impact on the NPV of SC. Do they require alot of money to reach this stage? IMHO, no as most of the work and drilling necessary have been done and the data is there to analyse. So dispite the small budget for the work this year this in no way means that Teck is less urgent or interested in moving this project forward. That is all that is required and necessary at this stage of the game folks.

Once these studies are completed - and my thinking is it will be done around summer time - I think we are going to see Teck or another Major move on this with much more urgency than what many are contemplating here. The sp will then start to reflect this even before we know why imho. My target is still for a buyout in 2014.