Crunching the numbers, page-96

I lost money on a company more than 10 years ago. I cannot remember its ASX code but it was the best performance stock on ASX during those years. It's project was the biggest project of its kind in the world in material that is used to produce fertiliser in Eritrea. The government there wanted 30% of the project for free but later wanted to increase to 40% (for free) and finally want it all and the project collapsed.

Another project of copper or nickle in Indonesia collapsed about 5-7 years ago (was it AKM? I don't remember) because a colonel in the Indonesian army wanted to take the whole project using his power.

My brother lost money in SDL which was holding one of the world's biggest iron ore projects in Africa (Cameroon Republic). The government there took back the project and gave it to a Chinese company. SDL lost everything.

Like many investors I wasn't scared of sovereign risk factor until I myself witnessed my investment disappeared. A big lesson for me to learn.

Not all African country is bad for mining investment and each country can turn to better or worse with regards to mining jurisdiction sovereign risk. Each to their own to assess the risk and to invest accordingly.