ECU management must have come to the conclusion that they couldn't extract the value in the significant silver resource at Verladena on their own. They have limited cash resources and the Q1 numbers are still marginal, even though the silver price has essentially doubled from a year ago. If the best solution is to expand the size of the mining operation significantly , well they are not in a position to do that. I've yet to find a good explanation as to why they went out and borrowed a large sum of money and opened a mine without carrying out the appropriate economic analyses. You have to lower the risk for the money people or you leave yourself vulnerable in a number of ways. It also provides an opportunity for the shorts to move in. Note that the official short position had a big increase in May around the time when the Q1 numbers would have been available, certainly to management. So a good option is to find a merger with a similar type of company with cash. The existing shareholders are facing dilution but everyone wins if the value can be unlocked. So why would AUM want to do this deal? They've got cash but still have to decide where best to allocate it. Verladena is the prize and you place value on the established assets, not the upside such as the MSV. In my opinion, they wouldn't have done this deal without thoroughly reviewing the economics of the mine operation and reaching the conclusion that they will have a high probability of success on this property. AUM also has a property in feasibility stage at El Quevar which will become a mine. In summary, I believe this merger represents the best opportunity to monetize ECU's assets.