If I may add a few things to this:
We know about Nordmin. As of now, all we know about Zachry is that they are still the leading candidate for the detailed surface engineering. We don't know how much work has been done or how far along we are in terms of contract negotiations with them to officially start the engineering.
Boilermaker has recently hit on a couple of points in regards to engineering updates and updates to the FS. I don't know exactly what the Ontario Securities Commission considers material changes, but I wonder if a required update to the FS is the primary reason why Niocorp hasn't "officially" accepted the updated plans from Nordmin. I think it would make more sense to update the surface and mine plan concurrently. So if BM is correct that the Nordmin changes would require an update, I would not expect to see an announcement on the Nordmin engineering until the surface engineering is also complete.
I completely agree with your comments on the public notice period. In addition to the points you made, there is also the simple fact that we don't make it to the public notice phase until detailed engineering is complete. This takes time, and again it does not appear that it has really even started. The detailed engineering may also be necessary for financing. The FS by nature is a +/-10% document. Finalizing the cost of the project seems important to me when you are signing off on financing deals, especially given the potential equity involved and the goal to minimize dilution. No need to give away shares if the cost is overestimated, right?
Finally, there are still boxes to be checked for the German loan guarantee. The next step is preliminary approval for the program. This is required to be publicly disclosed prior to the final financing agreements being signed. I don't believe this is much reason to worry between the public disclosure and the final agreement, but it is one more news release that one should expect to see prior to an announcement on a final deal.
These are the primary reasons that lead to the conclusion I posted a few weeks ago that I do not expect to see a financing agreement soon, specifically I have doubts that it can be pulled off this fiscal year (which ends 6/30).
