The reality is, it doesn't look like Chavez was ever going to let them mine LC and it just got cemented in place, as the gold price rocketed skyward.

The fact that that possibility apparently wasn't part of Fung's calculus (in light of Hugo's unbroken track record of lying and stealing) speaks for itself. Chavez doing what he always has done and crapping on the JV coming as a "shock" to managment? No "Plan B" financing already thought out by the genius of finance should Hugo act true to form by letting the JV rot on the vine? Give me a break.