Willy, thanks for such a thoughtful post.  I think you forgot the "catch", however.  That is, who is going to partner by advancing funds for drilling with any such lawsuits outstanding, or do I misunderstand you?

While I can't know, I would think that if JB approached his potential funding sources to advance money under the terms you suggest, they would walk away not wanting to be involved when "cleaner" option may be available to them.

BTW, base metals are taking a big hit this morning.  Copper is down over 10 percent from the time BG told us that we must await higher copper prices - which I never believed.  But we can also note that confidentiality agreements sometimes have little to do with market conditions, offers do. 

VP