Interesting thought, although I know of no precedent for this in the mining industry in developed countries, maybe in third world or developing countries.

 However, one analogy comes to mind. A group of Canadians had a trailer park somewhere in Florida. A developer approached them as a group to buy them out for future development of an upscale resort/condo complex. Each seller would have received +- $1M US. They agreed, but in the end the would be developer backed out.

 Maybe I should have posted this on the OT.