To be honest, I tend to think some would have seen mining in Eritrea as going to one of those "far-flung places" and doing a land grab- as happened with Mongolia before the government put a stop to it. Eritrea has very few mining companies there, so by looking at one, one can almost see what is happening for all of them.
defplayer, as I said, I think CHN holders did well out of their sale. I am just saying that a country, as well as private shareholders, can do well. That was one such case.
As for blogs, I use them merely to look at and see what they have to say. Most of the blogs about Eritrean mining are written from Eritreans, and are supportive of their government. There is no free press to speak of in Eritrea, so one might get only one perspective, however, at least one gets to see what some thoughts are by their own people.
STB management is being respectful of the Eritrean government, and it will assist them in outcomes. I've watched many companies in "far-flung places" be entirely disrespectful, and they often get kicked out (rightly so, imo). If there is one thing about Eritrea, it is fiercely independent, and woudln't contemplate mining colonialism. Having said that, it has said China is its preferred partner in mining investment, so one could expect to see more of China, I reckon.
As to CHN being onto a good thing, comes a time for many companies where capex can just be a drag, and selling can be advantageous in the short-term- this is not a comment specific to companies in Eritrea- SDL comes to mind: sell or try to find $5b capex?
STB Price at posting:
48.0¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Not Held
