good conversation, i'll add my two cents.

i'm sure there is talk on every front about third parties buying into LC...the fact is that a third party (with cash) could help all parties involved. my personal feeling on a buyout is that it should be based solely on reserves (with a legal contract we're currently trading at $3-$4 per oz of gold on a property thats looking at $400oz+ profit on gold). a buyout wont come until there is an agreement in place by both hugo and kry to permit LC. a buyout will have to come...or the permit will have to be issued to kry. arbitration is bad for both parties and hugo is running out of options with regard to LC.

my reasoning:

-i dont see anyone investing in a property with 2 ongoing icsid cases pending against it and the history of LC regardless of the reserves...at some point hugo will be forced to issue a permit/allow a buyout/jv with a permit (if he actually wants to make any more $$ off LC)...

-the russians dont have the cash to pull off a full buyout of kry.

-the chinese (and a few others) have the cash, and there's the fung connection but i dont see them jumping into LC without a permit in hand...who would at this point?

-if ven/kry go to arbitration. ven cant risk letting someone else jump in and mine LC because it would ruin any defense such as (environmental reasons) and show that the decision to "not issue" a permit to kry was unfounded. i've always suspected that part of this mexican standoff was the pending vannessa case (i.e. how can vannessa claim lost profits if they could'nt mine it anyway).

i figure there are 3 possible outcomes:

1. we get a permit

2. we get a buyout/JV with hugo's blessing and a permit

3. we go to court and no one mines LC for a long time.

i'll take 2 out of 3 odds. although i think we'll be at least filing for arbitration to show our resolve.