So........if China and KRY got the "sign offs" they were looking for in late summer of 2009 then why was Chavez telling the world in late 2009 and early 2010 that the Russians would mine Las Cristinas in a JV?

I think that's a legitimate question and I've posed it to Richard Marshall.

Cividale....I'll give you the answer you won't get from RM:

Because Chavez is a lying pig that would steal the pennies off his dead mother's eyes if he thought it would help keep him in power.