Noront and Cliffs did not work together on Freewest, if anything they were antagonists. The odds of cooperation are very thin. Cliffs would have aquired FWR for much less if it were not for NOT getting into the action.
Better to speculate on more likely scenarios.

The latest info we were provided was most likely released to prepare the ground work for the release of news about the deep drills or some equivalent finding from the other drills in the vicinity. That is why the info flow was so small and slow, because the basic protection was not up to date.
That is the most likely reason, imho.

Yes there will be a rail line but Noront can not wait or be subject to the timing of others in its plans. They are making contingency plans towards going it alone. Should other infrastructures become available the better but we have to plan for the worst case scenario instead of best that may not occur until who knows when.

I do not think that Noront management cares who buys us out. What they care about is IF we will be bought out, when and on what terms.