what are they actively negotiating?

- money

- education

- work

- planning after mine

its their backyard... they want a say in the matters...

how can Wes be so confident all will be resolved shortly?

- this is mostlikely because its common procedure to negotiate with the locals. the deals made are often quite standard...

The negotiations if lead by good advocates of the community know what is best and know the procedure...

The most interesting problem is how fast will Cliff setup talks? and how fast will the other juniors need to negotiate as well...