Sometimes I visit a nice lady whose daughter married the son of a Costa Rican coffee farmer.  The married couple are now the proud owners of a very small apartment in Vancouver and the young wife works for an international consulting company while the young husband works in construction.  My friend also went to Costa Rica where she so fell in love that she bought land, built a house, and started an affair with a coffee farmer. 

If it were not for them I would not know much of Costa Rica; but now I do and the very liberal mother and the very environmentally aware daughter tell me that Costa Rica will not allow mining.

They are however grossly wrong.  For Costa Rica spawned that most incredible mess called the Bellavista mine.  Now I see that the Costa Rican authorities having failed utterly to manage mining in the country, they are ready again to give it another try.  This from Thomson Financial News:

Ascot Mining Plc. said it will benefit from the ending of Costa Rica’s moratorium on open pit mining as this grants an immediate additional exploitation opportunity of its El Recio deposit and boosts the value of its gold resources by over 22,000 oz.  The PLUS Market-traded miner said it is now fast-tracking the design, procurement and construction of its 100 percent-owned new mill facility to be constructed at the Tres Hermanos concession, where a mill facility of up to 150 tons per day is permitted.  Ascot also said production at its interim La Luz joint venture mill near Las Juntas has been suspended pending renegotiation of operating procedures to address and correct certain operational issues.

Now if this venture produces another mess or near-hit, let no-one blame the mining community.  The blame will accrue entirely to the Costa Rican people and their politicians if this mine is not a shining success and an environmental high point. 

They have had one honneymoon.  Now they are together in a new relationship based on hope not logic or reason.  The coupling will only succeed if this is not a repeat of the last affair.