Hi Guys!

I received the following inbox today:

"Hi Coach,
I don't want to post this on the public forum and then get kicked off. I'm not as learned as I should be about metallurgy and was concerned about your comment re arsenic in the concentrate. Does it make ECU's mineral rich concentrate worthless? How much of the resource that we have does it affect?
This was new information for me so I'm trying to find out what it means." - ENDQUOTE

I have already chipped in with my opinion that the board is far better off if we are not overly concerned with censoring any questions or opinions that are critical of the company.  Legitimate issues should be discussed with the same degree of freedom as the upside potential.

To reply to the question above, smelters in Mexico will buy concentrates from mines as long as they fall within specific parameters for grade, moisture content, and within limits for contaminants from heavy metals like mercury, arsenic, cadmium, etc.  If the contaminants rise above trace levels, then the smelter will deduct a penalty from the revenues, and if they rise above a certain level, then the smelter may not accept the concentrates at all due to polution concerns due to the plume of toxins released as the concentrates are smelted.

I know that having Dan Kappes on the BOD is a huge asset since it is his firm that will be dealing with the arsenic issues.  I think they will ultimately come up with a process to neutralize and precipitate the arsenic out.  And not all resource areas of the mines have high arsenic levels in the ore anyway.

ECU was producing a lead-silver concentrate and a zinc-silver concentrate, and Penoles was happy to buy every tonne they could ship. It is only the gold-pyrites that seem to have an issue with higher arsenic levels, and the other concentrates fall within the acceptable tolerances from the smelter.

The company also has the option to sell the cons to China, where the restrictions on smelting with higher arsenic are not as strict, but I think the company is focused on solving the metallurgy and keeping their relationship with Penoles in good shape.

The main bonus going forward comes from all the millions of tonnes of tailings with rich gold levels that can be recovered once the gold-pyrite circuit is up and running.  I do not think it makes a big impact on the ability of ECU to earn a profit from current operations.

cheers!

mike