Commodity options are expensive, especially in times of...

Commodity options are expensive, especially in times of increased volatility. A friend raised a good point that they may not be able to afford the transaction costs. A better strategy in the medium term if they can negotiate it would be long term commodity swaps to see out their debt and fund stage 2, but those are difficult to close and subject to counterparty risk. They sold copper forward a few years back with a Swiss firm - I've forgotten the name. Maybe they can negotiate something with them once copper levels out.