Countries like Chile, Argenitina and Brazil are socialistic democracies. They have not seen the distruction of democracy that Bolivia, Venezuela and I think now Ecuador are seeing. I think it will take decades for Bolivia and Venezuela to return to normacy. I don't think the loss of claims is an issue, it is the loss of opperating permits that concerns me.

David Bending's experience and connections in South America should make some difference. From what little I have seen so far, Shoreham has managed to acquire some of the experienced exploration teams and assets through its arrangements with other companies. This reduces the entry barriers and operating within the country. There is also a certain level of domestic creadibility gained when you don't face conflict with locals.

In Venezuela durring the boom of the early 1990's several companies conflicted with local, often indigenous, free miners. Foreign companies were seen as a threat to their livelyhood. Hopefully by leveraging the construction of local infrastructure, Shoreham is developing more creadibility in the areas they opperate. For me, the big thing is they need to remain as operators of their projects. If some cowboy with a JV think he is going to opperate like they do at home, the project is in trouble.

I think Shoreham is aware of this.

Back to my first point at the begining of this thread, Guyana is a black box to me and has little history of modern industry and development. Until recently it has been largely economically issolated. I still consider it a cultural unknown with lots of hidden traps that can harm the company. The upside, it is the only country in South America with a history of common law like the US and UK.

We will see how Shoreham does.