EZ your math sucks.

1 hectare=10000 sq. meters. 1 acre=4046.9 sq. meters. In other words, 2.47 acres per hectare.

4000 hectares=9880 acres not 40000 acres, a little over 15 sq. miles.

The mine footprint, 1100 hectares=2717 acres not 11000 acres, a little over 4 sq. miles.

Sounds realistic to me.

Of course there is mining going on. Its in the MOC. Crystallex is obliged to assist and train certain groups of small miners working on the site.

As for illegal mining, unless we go see for ourselves, we have no way to know for sure, but I have long suspected that one reason for the delay might be that alot of money is being made off LC already and is ending up in offshore bank accounts.