Boss, I sincerely hope that you are right. But given Chavez's repeated statements about making sure the VZ's benefit from their resources and his past heavy handed actions in the oil sector I am beginning to wonder if the VZ's will let KRY walk away with the deal they have now.

The model Chavy has in mind for the future involves paying operators, on a contract basis, either directly or through percentages of the take, to extract the gold for him. Unfortunately, this model is becoming more common in the oil sector as countries contract directly with Schlumberger to explore , develop and exploit their oil resources. KRY's contract doesn't read that way to me.

I have worked in the oil business. It seems that not many people realize that the Exxons and Mobils of the world aren't the real experts in oil fields. They have always relied on Schlumberger for the real science and expertise. Recently Schlumberger has started to sell its expertise directly to countries with oil, bypassing the multinationals. I am afraid that this is the model that Chavy is looking at for gold as well.

The SP will tell the tale. Right now its not exactly convincing me that everything is rosy with Las Cristinas.