The optics of this just don't sit right with me. They are take our concessions without compensation including Bonza-Las Peñas (
http://www.aurelian.ca/projects.php?... )

with 1/2 million ounces of gold and then offer to sell them back to us?

we are not losing bonza las penas. bonza las penas lies within the same concession as fdn. to give you some idea of how BIG one concession is, papaya lies at the northern end of la zarza, then fdn and bona las penas are well within just the northern half of the same concession.

the next concession to the north is sachavaca, where we think the company has done some work on the naranjilla target, although i don't know if they have ever confirmed which regional targets they have drilled.

the concession to the south is princesa, where it is likely they have worked on the barbasco target. i doubt they got much farther than barbasco when work halted, so by keeping those three concessions, they won't lose any of the targets they have drilled except el tigre, where they didn't find anything economic anyway.

it's not a perfect answer, but since the government has already shown a lack of respect for property rights, i don't think we will see a lot of spirited bidding for land concessions in ecuador going forward. aru will have to pay something to regain its land, but if/when the government starts auctioning concessions, they may be going a lot cheaper than expected.