With a growing number of mining companies moving into higher-risk countries in recent years in the search of the next big deposit, they and their investors are increasingly grappling with a resurgence in resource nationalism that can badly buffet share prices.
There's been a trend recently for foreign governments, especially in emerging-market countries, to target large producers and seek higher taxes, larger shares of the profits, new ownership arrangements or new kinds of payments from the same companies they once wooed with generous concessions.
But a bad-news story for some companies may turn out to be good news for others. The Fraser Institute's 2016 Annual Survey of Mining Companies, which rates 104 jurisdictions around the world, found Saskatchewan and Manitoba as the top two global mining destinations.
Lexpert contributor Sandra Rubin reports at www.lexpert.ca.
Follow @Lexpert on Twitter.