Minera San RafaelIf you search in Google for news under "Minera San Rafael" you see a lot of the Guatemalan articles in Spanish that give you a good idea of what is going on. Interestingly, Tahoe has been very sparing on providing English updates and press releases. The operation has already declared itself to be open for business (as of Sept 24), and the company is trying to move fuel and supplies onto the work site. The road blocks continue, and recently got a bit violent when a bunch of protestors started smashing the windows of trucks with baseball bats, injuring one of the drivers and scaring the c*** out of all the rest. Meanwhile, there are also some civil protests against the protestors, since quite a few people are depending upon the mine for their living.
The MEM export licence is an issue, but you can already see what is happening. The ministry has been ordered to consult with the three Xinca groups by year end. If they reissue the export permit prior to the consultation it makes the consultation process look like a farce. Meanwhile, the permit is not a limiting factor until the mine has in fact resumed full production. If the protests die down (which they must if the mine is to reach full production) then that would indicate that the situation is effectively resolved, at which point there is no political risk for them in issuing the permit.