I agree that we are going to need funds again relatively soon. I maintain the hope that we get a buyout this Fall and that will solve the issue, but failing that, there are options as I've said.
Carmax can raise funds on their own. (I believe they actually have a road and that was one of the positives on that investment.) Copper Fox has options to buy up to 62% of Carmax and presumably is planning on doing that in the near future. I am anticipating continued involvement between Northern Fox and Carmax post-spinoff. This, however, will not dilute Copper Fox further and that is the point of this discussion.
All feasibilities get optimized before the production decision. This isn't a sign of weakness, it is a sign of progress.
I think you're jumping the gun on declaring the market dead for investment post-spinoff. Perhaps EE will stay with the investment, perhaps the market is actually more interested in VD than you believe. IMO it is highly possible that after the PEA we will be able to sell the project or form a JV with nearby Majors. One of them (Freeport?) is within spitting distance.
I think it is foolish to suggest we would have been better off just sitting on the cash and waiting for Teck. We're in a depressed market, and things are cheap right now. It makes sense to find projects to buy into. Van Dyke should have about 1.2 billion pounds of copper that typically costs about $1 to mine. That's about a quarter of the amount of our share in SC. That was a bargain.
Copper Fox is expecting quite a large refund on their taxes. We have to see the results of that before getting into all sorts of dire consequences. It could be up to $12 million, although I doubt that will happen but that was the figure that they used to have on the website. Let's get that information first and then worry about what is going to happen next.