I suspect that the option agreement may have been put together because of timing concerns. One concern that comes to my mind is perhaps the drilling permit expires soon and SLI need to use it or lose it. This is common place with Oil and Gas companies. O&G’s typically hope to explore for minerals with 100% ownership, but when facing a mineral lease expiry they will consider partnerships to explore before the expiry even though they may reduce their ownership by 50% or more. The upside is the partnering company brings the cash flow to make operations possible.

I know this is a large guess and I am not familiar with Peru drilling permits – but I think it may be possible.