if they are smart that is what they should negotiate. if the...

if they are smart that is what they should negotiate. if the operator blows up the budget then it is at their risk. ALK's stake should be 20% under any circumstances and there should be one-off payment aka finder fee.
ALK spent lot of money drilling the resource and will produce scoping study. Overall spend will be north of $22m and that carries lot of premium.
Most majors spend around $50m per year on exploration to find very little and make a Tier1 discovery once every 10 years when lucky. Now a major can walk into Tier1 deposit with $200m investment which is really less than $180m considering they pay not only for the discovery but also for the cost of drilling and knowledge of the local geology.
ALK needs to show there is upside potential for more if they are to extract top $ though.

But if the new MRE upgrade prints very close to the scenario I presented then I think $150m min price is locked - to buy ~80% stake in JV.