RE: Why on earth would anyone invest inClearly you are uninformed of the dynamics and like some make reactionary assumptions without really thinking about it.
I've made some previous posts discussing the political landscape. But to clearly clarify.
On Venezuela:
Yes, this is the worst example of political interference anywhere. The big oil companies are having projects seized. That said, they are still being offerred some compensation. Yes, the compesnation is well below market value, but it is somthing nonetheless. The mining companies are dealing with a lot of rhetoric, but no expropriations have occurred. Hecla still there. And Crystallex did a large bought deal. Huh? another foeign mining company recently got permitted to build a mine. and this is the worst case.
On Bolivia:
Yes, it is Chavez Light. But emphasize "Light". He doesn't have the outright support and control as Chavez. And the populance is more free market than Venezuela, which relied more heavily on PDVSA for employment. The expropriations by Bolivia have all been assets sold at privatizations, which arguably were done for the benefit of past political adminstrators (i.e., the metal smelter sold to the past President at a discount). The Mines Minister wants new rules, but will respect all past agreements and is trying to encourage foreign investment. anybody that is spending real dollars to develop something is welcome. These are public statements as opposed to Venezuela that openly decries foreign investors, yet still privately wants them to stay (believe me, Chavez wanted Exxon to stay).
Is Bolivia the best place to be? Obviously no. But is it so terrible? Not close to being true. There should be some discount on SAC for Bolivia, but only to a certain degree. It is because of Bolivia I was able to buy the SAC at $0.50 because the IPO was a "giveaway". This silver deposit could be immense. Based on what should happen I see SAC around $2.00 by end of summer. That would be $120 mm market cap. If it was in Mexico it may have been worth $200 mm. That's a reasonable "Bolivia" discount (say 33%-50%).