your post brings up the one question i have never been able to figure out...

venezuela siezed LC from placer dome because placer refused to begin production (gold was at/near $300oz and placer deemed it unprofitable)....but afterward, ven dragged ass for years as gold soared to alltime highs and did'nt allow kry to begin production...anyway here's my answer to your question...

since i believe your question is honest (and not an attempt at bashing) i will try to answer it to the best of my ability...i've researched everything available on the vannessa case (many hav'nt because the story is just so damn rediculous they believe it's a total scam)....i also believe that the case has NO MERIT but sometimes things can happen in court (especially a world bank court) that you did'nt expect...

my summary is this: if icsid holds true to history then a "jurisdictional" decision on vannessa v venezuela should be handed down within the next couple weeks (i'm sure the jurisdictional decision will go in vannessa's favor).....after which an "award" will/wont be granted (this should take about two years after the jurisdictional decision if historical cases are an indicator)......my personal belief is that vannessa will be granted nothing because the property changed hands to vannessa AFTER placer dome was found in default for not beginning production and the concession was siezed (among other arguments)...however, if vannessa IS AWARDED SOMETHING then the possible MAXIMUM award should be in the neighborhood of $150mil (which they will have to collect from the ven govt "good luck"...) if you want to research it on your own i suggest icsid.com (search cases vannessa) also pull a message board history on yahoo by a poster "augg".....his posts are EXTREMELY biased and you will have to sift thru a lot of BS but he does provide some avenues for further DD...