B212,

Good article, but no surprises.

The Chinese are shrew business people...just like us! It's always the balance between price and stability. But in the end "you get what you pay for". The emerging countries would offer low price, but there have been some surprises, due to national stability (wars can change everything overnight) and political stability (government in emerging countries may change mining rules in a heart beat). Also, if a deal is formed by corruption it could tumble down quicky, if exposed. Even allegation, would result in negative impact, since it is a global trade and one cannot get way with questionable dealing without being questions by the world community. There are all kind of treaties around to govern fair dealing.

Yes, of course we are all keen about environmental protection, but the process can be streamlined/fast tracked as the Fed is trying to do since the drawn out process of environmental assessments that may take several years to complete is just too long to be competitive in the world.

Bottomline: We just have to be competitive in term of price and stability. One good thing is that, the Chinese would tend to put more emphasis in long-range security of raw material supplies. Yes, they are looking for bargains and careful about their money. But since they have plenty of that, they don't mind paying a bit more (or investing in stable countries) for long-term stability. So, Canada still has some competive advantage, but just don't blow it with some other things such as bureaucracy and worrysome activities that would chip away that advantage.

goldhunter