good conversation here, but regarding hecla....i was always kinda wondering where the rusoro thing came from (might be that rusoro does'nt want HL's mine)....i think the ven govt might have looked into the mine and figured out they'd hurt themselves by giving HL the boot...the mine is PAST lifes end, cash costs are wayy up and i'd guess there's some sort of mine "closing" costs (like re-forestation, equipment turnover, ??) coming up.....the only good thing i can think of is that HL has made mention of "exploration licenses" in the past....i really got the feeling that HL may be trying to get out....the whole "leap of the frog thing" seemed kinda unnecessary....i mean c'mon, buy a metal detector..