IMO you should shoot for the highest NPV that you can afford to fund

You are right.

I think Teck (JV) is looking to maximize the full value of SC. I think they know that for this type of porphyry mine to be valuable or exist is to have high milling rates. Look at highland valley and how they mill 145k tonnes a day.

It's interesting that Teck is really looking into a balance between capex and mill rate (returns).

Do they want what the FS states of large capex and have large milling rates? and they don't have to worry about expanding it down the road?

or is it better to get the mine running asap (low capex) and slowly use the cash flow to expand the mine to what FS states?

Also another big risk for mining is that when we have large capex whether it's $3 billion or $6 billion. Building something so large of a span of 5 years, anything can happen. Costs can suddenly jump and be much more than what it was budgeted for.

I think Teck's strategy is to figure out what it takes to get this asset running as soon as possible. The sooner they get paid, the more de-risked the project is. The less financial risk to their balance sheet.

That being said, all this work will benefit Copper Fox's share in the SC JV. We are getting closer to a decision on production and hopefully a buyout from Teck (this is my opinion that we will get this once Teck has internally decided to bring it into production).