Yes, THAT  would be a disaster for us. With regards to the aforementioned situation with ATAC resources , I couldn't believe that their share price kept dropping (as I cost-averaged down) thinking myself fortunate (and smart) that I had continued to accumulate shares in this gem of a company (and I still maintain that it is an undervalued gem). But all the while I couldn't understand why no major or at least large savvy  investors were not seeming to support the Company/Share price/ SP by  increasing their share positions. It was as if the "big fish" had some knowledge or strong  inkling that ATAC's proposed very  low-cost CAPEX  (and extremely high IRR)  project wouldn't take flight, due to the potential permitting issue of the presumptive low-impact tote-road being proposed, with Retail being last (if ever) to learn.

After the permit request was denied I could only ask myself whether management was that oblivious to the politico-environmental landscape of the region {despite having had a foothold in the area for easily greater than a decade (probably 2 )}, or did they have an idea of the risk(s) involved and willfully chose not to express their concerns to current/potential shareholders.

If the proposed $SZM/$FNC takeover is potentially so accretive , why have not larger players already positioned themselves to maximally gain from an expected re-rating of the proposed new entity? Have THEY doubts as well about the current riskiness of the permitting process, or about management's abilities to bring value to all shareholders (and not just the principals) and in a timely manner, or is it due to a combination of the two including other reasons that I haven't mentioned/thought of?