Hi Coach,

As usual I recommend your post for reading as it is always a good fact based post. However on this occasion I wish to question some of your post... (knowing who you are in this forum, I wonder if this is wise :))

I agree with the fact that this stock and others are: a) being shorted b) being naked shorted c) massively undervalued on paper d) extremely frustrating for longs

However, I'm not sure that the level of manipulation and the slightly disparaging outlook is necessarily as it looks. Let's take a glass half empty to glass half full outlook. I've worked for a hedge fund and know (as best as anyone can) how the managed futures products black box technology works. It's simply in search of 'absolute returns' in any market at any time. How do they do that? All types of tactics including shorting and naked shorting. However the main thing to remember is that they are focused on making profits at all costs by analyzing trends. Would someone shorting ECU at .52 be very happy when we promptly went to .88? I know we expect a lot more considering the metals we have, but that's not a bad run and certainly hurts someone looking for shorting profits.

In addition, as I noted in other posts, we seem to be making staggered step of progress rather than a solid run. That in my opinion is a good thing. When we were up over .90 we then go pushed back to .86... for one day. The next day there was a bit of a struggle but we ended up to .88. I for one would say that the trend analysis in most hedge funds is picking up on the forward momentum of metals and juniors and adjusting or waiting at the moment. If I were a bank or a hedge offering unlimited shares as a short against ECU I would be taking a big risk indeed as with current metal prices and ECU now producing some monies: an announcement regarding profitability and/or a recommencement of drilling would hurt. It would hurt badly.

I for one think that the underlying POS/POG does have an obvious impact on our juniors... but I think it's limited. I for one think that what is under the ground is worth what it will be worth when we extract it ad then sell it. That has little or nothing to do with day to day fluctuations in the ongoing metal prices. Sure it is an indicator of where the metal prices will be when we are really mining the property (not just the low level we're doing now) but nothing is for sure. This current bull run of gold and silver is the real thing to us believers, but trust me the majority of people have not yet caught on or the price would have tripled. I'm sure there are loads of traders out there thinking gold is a bubble and legitimately shorting juniors. Even more than that... I'm sure there are many newer investors who got in when we were really cheap (.48-.60 range) who are hedging their bets and offering up shares for sale. The investor I previously mentioned that I had encouraged to get in at .50 called me the other day to say he sold at .75 or so when we had that downward run recently. He got scared of loosing his 50% up. No argument about company fundamentals was going to convince him to keep his hat in the ring and risk his 10,000 in winnings. Seems silly to us longs, but we have a strategy and long-term vision.

Call me an optimist, but Coach I think we just need a good statement stating that we are making profits, another stating that we are resuming a drilling program and hopefully a third saying we found the mother-load where we suspect it is. With those three things happening, I welcome the shorters to try to suppress us under 3-4 bucks. When we were last in that region, lets be honest, it was an era of excess and speculation in every capacity of the economy and was perchance a bit inflated. The next time we are there it will be truly earned. I for one welcome the recent downward run as I have now been able to price down and get the same chance some of you older investors got by snagging shares in the silly price ranges.

So, I agree there is manipulation. I agree it's frustrating. But I see optimistic patterns and know what this company is worth. I am willing to shout it from rooftops and encourage others to invest as I believe in this company. Most of my friends came and went recently, making more money than I have (not hard as I haven't sold!) but their interest is peaking again now that they see we are still looking stubbornly bullish and resistant.

Good luck to all and lets collectively pray for some announcements!