Jurisdiction is more important than value? If you mean it should...

Jurisdiction is more important than value?
If you mean it should be considered as part of a projects value, then I agree.

Canada one of the best mining jurisdictions in the world. Major drawcard for SYA.

It has been touted that SYA have an excellent management team, which I also agree is a major positive.

But I would suggest that both deposits have excellent management for their deposits. Notice that many of BGS's mgmt have extensive experience building multi billion dollar projects specifically in West Africa. That is their speciality. The SYA team would struggle in Mali, likewise the BGS team would not perform as well up in Canada. Good fits for both projects imo.

But the potential profits HAVE to be considered here. If one company will make 4x the profit, maybe more, how much of a discount can you apply simply because it is operating in a different country? I also see this extra country risk of BGS offsetting the operational risk of higher opex of SYA. Yes a high operating cost is also a major long term risk too which will influence whether it is funded or not.

I think both will do well, but imo some extra country risk is worth 4x+ the profit.
As you have mentioned, you have been burnt in African investments before and so there is possibly some emotional resentment towards Africa factored into your decision making.