Sney licences will not expire until the GoSL say they have.
In the case of Olympus, the licences were held open for over 9 years.
The locals and Chiefs, will not bite the hand that feeds them. They will support SNEY as the will respect them for the goodwill that has gone on.
Sney, through AMS sierra leone ltd is also a Sierra Leone Company and will therefore know the culture and customs of business in SL which work different to the west.
Sierra Leone people do not forget those who have helped them.
My previous posts stated Sney would have no problems with licences until April, May at earliest. Mr Hale has gone to SL and is going back this will show to GoSL that there is no problem with payment. Everything is NEGEOTIABLE in SL.
If you do some DD then you will see that there is a clause in the Licence that says there is a (SMALL) fine for late payment which many companies take advantage of.
Sney Licence was for 4 years, not 3.
We do not know what Mr Hale negeotiated while in SL but I believe in previous PR that Mining Licence was mentioned. This will mean a new application to MMR new mapping of area of concession by GoSL Geo Surveys and specific Area to be Mined inserted on Map.
If Geo Surveys is working on Africa Time then there will be no penalties as it is not SNEYs fault that the time taken is excessive.
I believe that Mr Hale will return to SL soon as when Parliment Closes for the holidays it will be hard to do business in a timely manner.
Hope that is of some help.
Dredgemaster