You asking the obvious question there. The top 20 holders know...

You asking the obvious question there. The top 20 holders know that they on to a good thing and having committed themselves for the LT, all they could hope for is to reduce their average buy in price by methods I have discussed here already - using the obvious correction to do so. Alternatively they simply hold and take the drawdown with the view that it is a temporary thing, because they aren't traders at all. Each to their own!

As for the funding deal, it obviously depends on what the market expectations are, but going by the SP deterioration, I would suggest expectations aren't that high, but as you mentioned we will find out in an unspecified number of weeks. Certainly the SP deterioration won't help making the deal at very favorable conditions (above market expectations, what ever they are?), as it also wouldn't be in the interest of the financier and low ball offers, would play into their hands as well.
I refer you back to the graphic I posted earlier, which shows how these things usually play out, where usually funding or just there after marking the low point in SP. However let's see what management can pull off and as long as it isn't a "death spiral funding arrangement" (worth googling) all is good, the mine gets build and once in production things should be looking very positive here!
So currently it really just depends on which category of investor/trader you are in and what your dominant future outlook is.