Lizzie...
1) The government owns all the resources on behalf of the people.
Agreed
2)Companies are allowed to spend money on developing resources but never have an (fee simple) interest in the resource.
I agree in part... Ownership of land in fee simple must include a "Bundle of rights"... Before I cut a check for a billion + dollars, I'm going to make sure that I have the right to mine anything of value that I find...
Therefore If a Gov't is going to expropriate my land and taking into consideration the financial interest that I would have in the property, include the current the exploration costs to date, it would therefore cost that Gov't more money than they could ever come up with, which furthermore makes your previous statements regarding expropriation totally out of the question for the Nfld. Gov't., because the tax payers can't afford to pay for it.
In some cases the gov't will sell the surface rights to the minco who claims the deposit but that's all they get. Access.
That comes under their "Bundle of Rights"... Your getting there Lizzie..
3)The gov't permits companies to extract the resource and pay a fee for so doing to the Crown.
I already said that in my previous posting... So we both agree on that point...<gg>...
Re: Smelter...
I know what Tobin is trying to do... The point is that INCO doesn't need the smelter over there... They have idle ones sitting all over the country which can be utilized at at a much lessor cost than it would be to construct a new one, without the concessions...
And yes, in law, Inco's financial interest is in the ownership of another company and it means dick with respect to the ownership or ownership rights to the nickle in the ground.
I'm not disputing the "ownership" of minerals in the ground...
I'm saying that they own the property in Fee Simple which includes their "Bundle of Rights", which includes the right to access the property, find minerals, mine the said minerals if and when INCO so chooses...
I gotta go to work right now, and I choose to have the right to buy you the second round, but, I ain't payin' for it if the bar we are at isn't owned by me in Fee Simple...<ggg>
...ed
ps: Yes I know all about graft... |
