mining lease is formally issued 1 week after.., page-15

Yes it would seem that to have even ventured down the NTMA path, some sort agreement had to be reached about the JV split.
Perhaps there is negotiation regarding costs to mine and process?
AGS believe the processing costs provided by Q were inflated which would have obviously benefited the processor Q in the JV. To reduce the processing costs going to Q would certainly benefit AGS. Still a guessing game atm.
Should be an interesting 21 days.
Cheers
EP