AE got caught with his pants down, so to speak, and has been attempting to wiggle his way out by buying time. Here are two quotes from Zenyatta news releases.

"While SGS has made significant progress on the metallurgical work, designing an innovative new process takes time and the timelines for completion are difficult to forecast accurately."

“At this stage of a mineral project, tweaking of a process flow sheet is quite common and is especially so for Zenyatta’s unique Albany deposit.”

"designing an innovative new process" VS "tweaking of a process flow sheet"

Who would have guessed that the first quote was written six months AFTER the second?

Also, note the tremendous difference in tone.

June 2014 - Don't worry, be happy, everything is completely normal for this stage of the project.

December 2014 - We've been wracking our brains and busting our butts, and we won't quit until we figure this out.