Uruguay’s mining law is not particularly comprehensive or sufficiently detailed to be considered an appropriate framework for regulation of modern mining projects. Rather than reform it, a supplementary law was passed for large-scale projects which essentially circumvents the mining law and requires the negotiation of an entirely separate agreement with the State on the development and operating terms subsequent to discovery. Under this structure, risk rises exponentially at the point where an explorer attempts to obtain exploitation rights. Assuming that one survives this critical juncture, legal risk thereafter will be determined not by the underlying law, but by the quality of the agreement negotiated.