We already have the eye of the majors and I expect that each has a senior geologist or consultant that is keeping an eye on the area. The majors tend to come in when most of the uncertainty has been removed around a deposit. They like to see 43-101 resourse estimates followed by reserve estimates and preferably most or all of the permitting done (anything that reduces risk). At that point they will know what they are buying and don't have to face plunking down a couple of billion for something that might not happen (e.g permits not issue, land claim, crazy complex metallurgy, etc etc etc).
Now that only holds true if everyone plays by the same rules. If some one bids early than each company would assess its comfort level and jump in or not. To a large extent the NOT share holder protection plan will prevent an unwelcome take over. Its to everyones advantage for NOT to develop this as far as they can before the bidding starts. The more eagles that are found on NOT or elsewhere the lower the relative development costs. When the bidding does start it is likely to be done behind closed doors in NOTs boardroom with only the preferred company emerging. At that point anyone else can jump in with their bid.
How many tonnes we need will depended on the analysis of the costs of mining the ore and building infastructure. I suspect that if DE1 crosses the 5 million tonne mark there wouldn't be anything that could prevent it from being mined.
... Been There
