If Silver King was a goer, it would have been ramped up during...

If Silver King was a goer, it would have been ramped up during the ramp-down of the open pit, to supplement ore feed for ~6 months.

Let's not forget it was in MMG's best interests to keep operations going for as long as possible, even if they barely generated cash. From a NPV perspective, keeping operations going for another few years would have kicked the rehabilitation liability can down the road, and reduced the present value of that liability cost.

They've even happily kept their previous rehab funding/obligations in play. There is a LOAD of cash being offered up by MMG here, to essentially get nothing in return. Obviously they evaluated that Plan B (keeping operations going) was going to cost them a hell of a lot more.

MMG, OZ, Zinifex, Pasminco - they all had a shot at expanding the Century deposit, and evaluating the feasibility of mining Silver King and the ore under the ROM. You'd think after 15+ years of operating the joint they'd know a thing.