There was a day when we could simply have the people responsible shot, and get on with progress, this is no longer fashionable however, so there is not much else to do but wait for it all to blow over
Which it will ... 'perhaps it's a common mistake to give too much weight to recent events', as you say on the pf thread ... these things roll in cycles, check a twelve year chart of kry.to, they didn't have a mine then, they still don't, and they may never - doesn't matter, look at all the trading opps, lots of doubles and better in there ... only question is, who is going to play Carson for Aurelian, maybe we could all chip in and set r-e up with a website
The history of gringo mining in Latinoamérica is not stellar, from the locals' point of view, i've mentioned this a few times on these threads, it deserves loud repeat - mining has meant enslavement of indians, devastation of their cultures and lands, in most places they've never gotten any net benefit from it ... when this happens consistently over centuries, the very term 'mining' becomes negative, and strongly so, especially where indians prefer to continue traditional lifestyles, there are quite a few of these and for every one he has half a dozen family members in the cities supporting him, and voting ... that's the bulk of the electorate in enough places to count large
Ecuadorian mining law has already been changed a few years ago, radically liberalised, royalties reduced to zero, no mine operation permit necessary [included with explo permit which was included with concession], and all controls on funds transfer removed
No way would i let that go were i running some little pissant country, it means foreigners coming in and making off with the mineral wealth for nothing more than a few jobs to locals, which you can bet are paid at not much better than it takes to attract warm bodies ... it's not enough
Explorers and developers will need enough in the game to attract them, certainly, but the resources belong to the country ... there's a balance here ... a suspension of months is pretty stupid, absolutely, still it's perfectly reasonable to inform miners that they will have to operate by the terms of a new mining law ... what's in it for them? - well, they'll be permitted to enter the country, do their thing according to the laws, pay their taxes/royalties on time, make as much money as circumstances and their ability permit while cutting the nation in on the profits, and if they did all that well and truly, i'd personally try hard to refrain from having them shot |
