I think that Mills may be in a season of dealing with reality. He seems to be hiring the right folks and, subject to change, has his building up for sale in case the $$ run out. He's dropping back to focus on some core progress after the replications didn't work out as planned and is moving like he knows that the clock is ticking. He's a very smart man - let him work and see what they come up with. Metal energy research is not easy and can be a money fire if you're not careful. His next updates will be interesting and telling as to which way this is going to go for BLP.
Something often forgotten on this site.
Companies that believe they have a commercialisable over-unity reaction on the basis of a specific experiment will properly try to replicate it in some other form. If they discover this does not work, and continues not to worth after some effort) then the correct (most likely) conclusion is that there were errors in the original experiment.
In any area other than LENR such null replications would be admitted, and the original hypothesis (some unknown LENR process) discarded in favour of the more likely (some unknown experimental error). No doubt with effort such errors can be found.
IH is to be commended in having gone through this process and come out the other end with integrity intact and optimism undiminished.
BLP, it seems, goes through this process every few years but does not admit that the original experiments were flawed. My guess is that Mills, like many here, is convinced of his weird theory and so knows it must be possible to make it work even when all of his positive results turn out to be unreplicable.
I'd have more respect for him if he disclosed the failures to replicate: but then perhaps in that case he would find it more difficult to raise money.
THH