First of all, I am not the best person to ask about ECU because I do little research on it ( mostly just news releases) and am not much into silver stocks. ECU is my only hold at this time. Hence I can not make a valid comparison to other Mexican mines. (GOG, partner to ECU, may be a better investment on a per dollar value because of fewer outstanding shares) I am a gold stock junkie now. My current favourite is Gold Reserve (GRZ at TSX) but a long play due to a very depressed share price and is probably the best buy in gold right now. I compare silver mines to gold mines and that is my main method for decision making (50:1 ounce basis). That is not likely to suit you or anyone else on silver boards. I read ECU boards at Investor Village and the main one for ECU at Stockhouse (watch for bashers there). You do not need to register to read the posts. A short summary: ECU has great management. Currently and officially 94 million ounces of silver but a National Instruments 43-101 compliant report is due over the next few weeks and I expect that the resource will be reported with at least 200 million ounces, likely possibility to 300 and some optimistic ( more knowledgable than me ) have said that it might be as high as 500 million ounces! ( personally I doubt the higher value ). ECU has several mine sites and is a small scale producer with the intent to expand the production facilities. The mine sites consist of fairly rich veins and one is partnered with GOG). What I like about ECU is that it is likely to become one of the largest silver mines in Mexico. Because the resource report is about to come out it may be an excellent investment for a short term. Afterwards hedge your bet partly with GOG and any other silver stock you fancy. I do not like to make recommendations, you may hold it against me in the end. However I feel comfortable in saying that any gold and particularly silver stock should be a winner in the long term. The recent gold and silver price rises are a good indicator that the long term may finally not be very long. And silver is undervalued in comparison to gold. Hope this helps, Edgy.