Too much emphasis is put on the "they will have to wait years if they don't co-operate with us" scenario, imo.
It obviously hasn't been an issue for the last 10-15 years, no?
Thinking they can't start development without our information and engineering is off base to me. Vz has the Placer Dome information and could very well proceed on that basis and develop further as they wished. Totally do-able. Vanessa had plans in place to go ahead with some higher grade development to get the project moving. Vz could do the same thing.
And if another company wanted to develop this without our info, it wouldn't take much to confirm up with some more drilling what is already known. I would bet money Vz has more information on this property than we give credit for.
jmo