When I talked to Mike Smith at the PDAC he was under the same impression that the 25% will go towards a Partner that will team up with Teck.
That makes a lot of sense. Teck would have a good idea what Ernesto wants so the best thing Teck can do, if they need a partner, is to attract and convince a potential partner of the real value of Schaft Creek and what they will need to come up with for Ernesto's approval.
As to D's assertion that Teck's SP dictates whether they move forward with the Schaft Creek production decision, I disagree. Not only because a helping partner is the most likely solution anyway which would happen regardless of Teck's SP, but also because Don keeps harping that they have $6 Billion in liquidity and have no need or intentions to raise money through equity offerings.
$6 Billion is about ten times the amount Teck needs in order to fund the first two years of construction at Schaft Creek completely on their own. Then major cash flows are already landing in Teck lap from Fort Hills who's initial production is only some 16 months away. I don't see any financial obstacles in announcing a production decision (other than the effect of increasing the price at which they would have to buy us out...)
Strategically speaking though, I see a buy out first and a production decision close second.
