I was wondering what obligated Teck to include the cost as part of the pre-production costs. It states in section 4.10 :

All Costs shall be deemed to be

Pre-Production Costs unless identified as relating to Early Works Costs in the

relevant Program under §10.2 or by the Operator in an invoice issued under

§10.8.

So the JV agreement obligated Teck to offer CUU it's pro rata portion of the Liard shares and also obligated Teck to include them in the pre-production costs. A win-win for CUU. The cost will appear on the JV accounting balance sheet but may not be disclosed publically. The key here is the increase in % ownership and reduction in the royalties or equivalents. Neither royalties nor equivalent interests were included in the FS economic numbers so any reduction helps improve the project economics.