Cobalt was high at the time, but it didnt last long did it ?
IMO, by the time negotiations got to the nitty, the landscape changed, the cobalt tanked, also the scale and nature of the business changed too, so even if the cobalt price was still hot, offtake and funding is still " no lay down misere "..........massive work still needed to be achieved.
The timing was off, now the landscape is changing again...........
In a nutshell, offtake and funding do NOT grow on trees, not in any environment.
AIMHO