I guess every company likes to claim that it picked up the...

I guess every company likes to claim that it picked up the "premium ground" whether its WCN or SMM. It all depends on how you define "premium", is it the ground with the most pure geological potential? The most amount of previous exploration done within it? Or simply the easiest logistical part to work in? Lots of different ways of measuring "premium" and very much in the eye of the beholder.

There might have been other factors such as personal relationships, pure chance and/or different situations as to how desperate or not the vendors are to sell the ground and what amount of cash or equity they find acceptable when making a deal.