Thank you.
I'd be happy to speak to the idea of royalties or sharing of the proceeds from mining with the country and its inhabitants. I think that is key to any successful business activity in virtually any country in the world, and not just with regard to mining.
Royalties are a direct way of sharing the bounty of the operation without having the country or its local people sharing in the cost risk, if you will. As there is the need to establish a regime in that regard, it needs to be quite responsibly thought out and not—how should I say?—looked upon with greed, if you will. One of the things that is often forgotten by governments when they're establishing a royalty regime is that there is a lot of risk money that goes in at the front end, a lot of investment money that goes into the construction side, and that there is a need for the investors who put up the risk money to receive a fair return on that, just as the citizens expect to receive a return on the bounty that's derived from their own country. Bring that in together with the vagaries of business cycles and the way metal prices move up and down and across the board. Rather than having floating-level percentage royalties, a fixed royalty that then on a gross basis—I call it a gross smelter basis—is something that could be considered. And in a case when metal prices are higher than might be historically typical, a profits tax or a profits royalty could be put upon it.
But don't undercut the base line of revenues that go into the investment that ultimately makes the mine happen, because mines take not just a one-time investment; they're an ongoing investment.