Ann: PFS Confirms LD as a Globally Significant SOP Project, page-138

MR's buying is generally at the bottom of each sp. 'cycle'.
Hotcopperites interpret this as a positive ... maybe just a way of soaking up the disenchanted cheaply.

I suspect you are on the right track when you say he might "kick in the $500 million to make this project a goer" ... but at that point why would it make any sense for RWD to be a public company ??

The passing snippet from the CEO's about people having been knocking on their door maybe the ace in their back pocket that could make privatisation possible (maybe he hasn't got a lazy $500 million laying around).