Silver Wheaton is a royalty company. It fronts money for mines to get established and then gets to buy a % of their future or current silver output. It means mines don't have to issue shares to develop their holdings just sign over a % of output for upfront cash. For example it gave Barrick Gold about $650 million for some current and future silver production to help Barrick pay down its gold hedge book. I think SLW silver purchase costs are currently averaging around $3.90/ounce to buy across all their royalties and then selling for $17 +. It is a license to print money and they are destined to be one of the largest pm companies in the world. It has been one of my best silver investments over the past several years. ECU is a junior mining company with one of the larger potential silver reserves and we hope a 10 bagger in the long term