When I worked on a mining project in a developing nation, hired actors with TV crews came to the site and told how they were 'being made sick' downstream of the drilling activities. They refused to produce medical certificates. Needless to day, the drilling activities had no impact on any nearby streams, and in any case, the people claiming to be sick were in the wrong catchment in another valley; none of the activities were upstream of their location. The actors were hired by rival groups and affiliations who wanted the project cancelled. Fortunately, the government at the time saw through it, and didn't listen.
This is the kind of thing that goes on in less developed and more corrupt places pretty much all the time, but Australia's legal systems, procedures, and politics is usually immune from this kind of thing, which makes us a strong mining nation. Many other countries have undeveloped mineral resources, but many never get off the ground because of these sorts of sovereign risks and shenanigans.
Weak legislation, flawed procedures, and politicians that don't understand or protect sovereign risk, means more of this sort of thing is likely to occur.
RRL Price at posting:
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