like others here have said, if we have a permit by the date of the meeting then "yes"...reward them...if not....

As I understand it the issuance of options would be to retain good people. None of management has any real (compared to other comparable mining companies) skin (stocks bought with their own money) in the game (loading up on options by management not a good sign according to people that know these things). One would think that managing one of the largest gold mines on the planet...especially in light of all of the positive, encouraging news that is coming from their investor relations department , would make the award of permit as a prerequisite for granting of options a very good and attractive deal from their perspective. Why would management leave if granting of options was qualified by permit award with all of the encouraging news out there?