BelgianK: First let's do some simple math. As of 2008 the total PROVEN gold reserves in the Pueblo Viejo mine was about 22 million ounces. If we multiply this by a very low price of about 1500 USD per ounce (current price is about 1560) gives us a nice chunk of change...about 22,500,000,000 worth. On top of that there are proven reserves of 107 million ounces of silver, 424 million pounds of copper, etc...altogether estimated at about 35 billion+ at current prices. Of that money the DR government will most likely see a big fat zero or very little as the contract that was negotiated states that Barrick only has to give some money back to The DR government IF and when they recoup ALL of their investments (they put it at about 3 billion...experts say it is only about 1.2 billion) and once they recoup that investment they only have to pay any taxes over and above any NET profits they make over 10%. Yes there has been some economic impact in Cotui and surrounding area as the result of the build up where they had to employ about 3,500 or so mostly temporary employees, but that's going down dramatically by the end of this year when they start production. Once that happens they plan to operate with less than 1,000 full time employees of which most are NOT from Cotui and actually many of them are not even Dominicans (Cotui looks like a little Peruvian town right now...there's even a little Peruvian restaurant). So while there's some temporary benefits in the end what Cotui will get is a pittance and of course I expect that we'll be left holding the bag in the end with contaminated land, rivers, etc...