I have shares in a driller which had been going gangbusters until last October when activity began to slow. I suppose most of the drillers are running into trouble due to the status of the economy which, oddly enough, could be a plus for miners with huge assets already in the ground such as ECU.

Below are a couple of paragraphs from its quarterly and annual report of the other day that sum it up. Note the final comment re financing.

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"The fourth quarter remained relatively strong with activity up until late October; however, by the middle of November most of the drill programs came to a halt, where in prior years most customers worked well into December. From November, 2008, through to March, 2009, there was widespread volatility in all facets of the business and due to the uncertainty in the economy, many customers delayed or cancelled their exploration programs. As such, actual results varied substantially from those in comparable quarters of 2007 and 2008.

Drilling in the short term to medium term, particularly on base metal projects, has significantly slowed down. Numerous highly leveraged senior and intermediate mining companies have reduced their exploration spending for 2009, in order to conserve cash. Even gold producers with good balance sheets have delayed exploration plans due to the uncertainty in the economy. Sources of financing for all but a select few junior mining companies also continues to be limited."