If GRZ and KRY were forced into a 50 / 50 deal with the government, at least we could resonably expect that they would push the permits through and pick up half of the develpment money.

In an odd way that would actually be good for GRZ in that they already have their mill under construction and a certain amount of equipment as does KRY.

In most JV deals work comleted and paid for including engineering plus equipment owned by one party would be put into the JV as their share of the development costs.

GRZ has expended $300 million in development of Brisas, has around $90 million in equipment and assuming that it will cost $700 million to build the mine their share would be $350 million. There would be some negotiation of course as to how much of the sunk costs would be credited to the JV but it seems to me that in a reasonable deal the government would have to front up with the bulk of the mine building costs leaving very little additional fund raising required by GRZ for their half.

You can do the same exercise for KRY. As their planned capital exenditure is less than that proposed by GRZ a 50 - 50 deal for them may require even less.

With the capital markets still very difficult it may actually be better for existing shareholders to get a JV with the government and significantly reduce the additional capital need to fund the mine, than it would be to get 100% and have to dilute the stock excessively in order to raise the funds.

Of course this assumes that the government intends to contribute if they insisted on a controling stake. However if it doesn't these mines and all other greenfield exploration simply won't go ahead.