If you *knew* with certainty that the red tape was going to be...

If you *knew* with certainty that the red tape was going to be wiped away, because you lined the right pockets or whatever, it isn't THAT bad a prospect in and of itself. The startup costs would be favourable over a typical mining operation and if they didn't have to do any ore processing and relied on 3rd parties for that then it's even lower. A few boats with a vacuum dumping onto themselves delivering into port, maybe a bit of explosives to clear that lovely reef.

But we don't know that the red tape will be cleared and MKR is currently a company struggling to make a profit with silver at $20. If those NZ guys are serious about cashing in on this and know the red tape will be cleared they will have to move MKR stock price up significantly on their own backs, probably to 30c within the next 2 weeks so that the sour taste in many stockholders mouths no longer exists. Otherwise the optics of it will look like more poor people trying to make a quick buck and this move will not work out for them in the slightest IMO.