I've been looking at the environmental assessment process because it seems logical to me that Teck will apply for the EA even if they are not yet ready to enter production.

Although....having said that...I did come across this quote from a Copper Mountain person who was talking about their production decision: “An economic downturn is a good time for a company to begin construction since you have access to cheaper steel and labour and lower metal prices,” explains Galina Meleger, manager of corporate communications for Copper Mountain. “This produced some cost savings for the project.”

One thing that Red Chris did was to cancel their initial application from the 90's, and submit a completely new one. It is possible Teck will do that to fall under the new EA rules. Maybe applying under the new rules where the province will do the review, will be quicker than following the current application through to completion. I would think they would have to amend it anyway to account for the different production levels, etc.

Red Chris also applied for a Pre production contruction activity permit separately. This covered the road building, etc. I believe Elmer stated, before the JV was announced, that they were going to apply for this permit.