I've never thought of Alkane as someone who genuinely wanted to...

I've never thought of Alkane as someone who genuinely wanted to build this project. At the time they acquired stakes in GMD and CAI (and attempted in EXU) the stated strategy was to use their cash pile and technical strength to find solid equity investment stakes in juniors. It wasn't about ultimately building those projects because they didn't have the financial resources.

With their much higher market cap now they do have the financial ability to take out these sorts of companies and develop projects but still not sure I see it.

My own gut feeling is that this expanded Kookynie project is not all that high quality. Ulysses is still the part that has the value and St Barbara is still the company that needs the ore (specifically ore of enough grade that it can deliver material ounces when processed through the Gwalia mill). SBM may have been in discussion behind the scenes with GMD but couldn't come to a suitable offer, so GMD decided to upsize the land package and pursue the exploration path to get enough ounces for a standalone project.

SBM also has a lot of moving parts at Gwalia in terms of the mine plan and having a fresh CEO. They did say they expect to advise the market on the Gwalia mining and overall strategy I think in the December quarter. That could be a catalyst.