Smart Investment - mexicomike.ca

[Gung Ho]

I used to own this stock long time ago and sold it with nearly 900 % profit, always watching since then but because of mixed emotions / opinions kept watching and noticed a growing negative mood surrounding this stock.

Inka is one of them.....


Handbags at dawn girls, it's our old friend ECU Silver (ECU.to), silver scam of the year and pumped shamelessly to high heaven by a foulmouthed GATA wingnut (cos he holds a bootload of the worthless paper and wants to get rid of it...onto you...at higher prices). This time they've been caught red-handed doing their naughty deeds, so let's hand over to its JV partner (though that word must be haunting them by now) Golden Tag (GOG.v). For the record I don't have much sympathy for GOG.v either, the old "lay with dogs..." saying coming to mind. Just avoid this screwed up mess like the plague, dudettes and dudes.



Anyway, to business. This is what they wrote


MONTREAL, QUEBEC--(Marketwire - Aug. 13, 2009) - Golden Tag Resources Ltd. (TSX VENTURE: GOG "Golden Tag") has today presented a formal notice to ECU Silver Mining Inc. ("ECU") demanding the immediate cessation of the removal of stockpile material on the San Diego Property. Golden Tag has recently learned that ECU commenced unauthorized removal of surface stockpiles on the property at a daily rate of approximately 250 tonnes per day in clear contravention and breach of the ECU and Golden Tag joint venture agreement (the"JVA"). Removal of these stockpiles and transport of the material is continuing on a daily basis with a fleet of seven trucks. The material is being transported to the nearby processing facility of ECU. There are at least 40,000 tonnes of mineralized material grading 1% Lead, 1% Zinc and 100 grams Silver per ton on the property. The stockpiles represent Joint Venture Assets which can not be mined or processed without the authorization and approval of the Joint Venture committee. Such authorization and approval has not been requested or approved.

ECU, the designated operator of the San Diego joint venture has also failed to remedy prior fundamental breaches of the option and JVA, signed on November 2, 2005 in respect of the San Diego property (see press release: June 23rd 2009). The silver zinc rich property is located in the Velardena Mining District, Municipality of Cuencame, Durango State, Mexico (the "Property"). Golden Tag's counsel in a letter dated March 20, 2009 notified ECU of these breaches and Golden Tag subsequently received assurances that the breaches would be rectified within the requested 30 day period. Despite several follow-ups, the breaches have not been remedied. Golden Tag is fully vested in a 50% Property interest under the JVA.

Among prior contract breaches of ECU which Golden Tag believes will be substantiated at arbitration are that ECU:

(A) Allowed a third party charge against the Property contrary to the JVA.

(B) Invoiced Golden Tag for joint-venture expenses but did not remit the funds to pay joint venture suppliers on a timely basis, some suppliers still being unpaid.

© Failed to timely contribute its equivalent pro rata share of funding to the joint venture.

(D) Failed to follow proper procedures and timely financial reporting.

Due to these significant breaches, Golden Tag plans to seek the right to assume operatorship of the Property, dilution of the interest of ECU and/or compensatory damages and other relief.



And this is what it means:

MONTREAL, QUEBEC--(Marketwire - Aug. 13, 2009) - Golden Tag Resources Ltd. (TSX VENTURE: GOG "Golden Tag") has today presented a formal notice to ECU Silver Mining Inc. ("ECU") telling them to keep their grubby thieving hands off the JV material at the San Diego Property. Golden Tag has recently been told by truck drivers working for ECU who haven't been paid for two months that ECU has been stealing surface stockpiles on the property at a daily rate of approximately 250 tonnes per day, which is half the amount of rock they're putting through their stolen oxide mill, in clear contravention and breach of the ECU and Golden Tag joint venture agreement (the"JVA"). These scammy shits are stealing on a daily basis with a fleet of seven trucks driven by those as yet unpaid drivers. The material is being transported to the nearby stolen processing facility of ECU. Those scumbags have pilfered at least 40,000 tonnes of mineralized material grading 1% Lead, 1% Zinc and 100 grams Silver per ton on the property. The stockpiles represent Joint Venture Assets which can not be mined or processed without the authorization and approval of the Joint Venture committee. Such authorization and approval has not been requested or approved so we're well pissed with these shysters and you'd better believe it, as our half of the silver they've stolen is worth about U$800,000, the lead is about $300,000 and the zinc another $300k. So these fools owe us $1.5m and that's before we start on the punitive damages, suckers. They're going down.


ECU, the designated operator of the San Diego joint venture has also been a pisspoor partner of the option and JVA, signed on November 2, 2005 in respect of the San Diego property (see press release: June 23rd 2009) and we're already in arbitration about this. The crap quality property which looks good on paper but is largely uneconomic to mine as its veins are harder to get at than a junkie's, is located in the Velardena Mining District, Municipality of Cuencame, Durango State, Mexico (the "Property"). Golden Tag's counsel in a letter dated March 20, 2009 notified ECU of these breaches and Golden Tag subsequently received a bunch of bullshit lies from the scamsters that the breaches would be rectified within the requested 30 day period. Unsurprisingly the breaches have not been remedied. Golden Tag is fully vested in a 50% Property interest under the JVA.

Among prior contract breaches of ECU which Golden Tag believes will be substantiated at arbitration are that ECU:

(A) Fraud.

(B) More fraud.

(C) Screwing over the JV at any given opportunity.


(D) Proof these jokers couldn't organize an orgy in a brothel, let alone a mine.

Due to these significant breaches, Golden Tag is totally pissed, is going to sue their scrawny asses and nail them into the ground. Tequila shots with salt and lemon served, the end.
_________________
If you don't trust GOLD,the only asset with a 6000 year track record, do you trust the logic of taking a $1,000 pine tree, cutting it up, turning it to pulp, putting some ink on it, and then calling it one billion $ dollars?

[Gung Ho]

ECU SILVER MINING INC.
87 Front Street East
2nd Floor
Toronto, Ontario
M5E 1B8

PH: (416) 366-2428
FX: (416) 366-8131

www.ecu.ca



ECU Silver Responds to Demand Notice


TORONTO, ONTARIO – August 13, 2009 – ECU Silver Mining Inc. (“ECU Silver”)
(TSX:ECU) confirms that, as publicly announced by its San Diego Property joint venture
partner, Golden Tag Resources Ltd. (“Golden Tag”), without any prior discussions having
taken place between the parties about the matter, ECU Silver has received a notice from
Golden Tag demanding the cessation of all metallurgical testing being performed by ECU
Silver on stockpiles located on the San Diego Property. These stockpiles are comprised
of waste materials that were left over by previous operators of the San Diego Property
who deemed the materials to be of no economic value, which waste materials were
subsequently cleaned of high grade pieces by independent miners.
ECU Silver had begun to perform metallurgical testing of these stockpiles when the
opportunity to do so arose as a result of ECU Silver’s recent acquisition of a new oxide
mill. The goal of such testing was to contribute to the ongoing research efforts aimed at
improving the various metallurgical solutions for the mineralized material in the area, all
with a view to enhancing the operations of the San Diego Joint Venture as opposed to
exclusively enriching ECU Silver, as intimated by Golden Tag in its recent press release.
Although ECU Silver takes issue with many of the positions asserted by Golden Tag, until
such time as it is able to establish a productive dialogue with Golden Tag, ECU Silver
shall cease its metallurgical testing of the stockpiles.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

ECU Silver Mining Inc. ECU Silver Mining Inc.
Michel Roy Stephen Altmann
Chairman and CEO President
011 52 871 747 5750 (416) 366-2428
_________________
If you don't trust GOLD,the only asset with a 6000 year track record, do you trust the logic of taking a $1,000 pine tree, cutting it up, turning it to pulp, putting some ink on it, and then calling it one billion $ dollars?

[coach247]

More Drama! For the sake of crappy grade (100 gpt silver) rock, why even incur this type of news? Whatever dispute may be going on behind the scenes in this JV, it makes no sense to me that ECU would risk this type of negative publicity for such low gain.

cheers!

mike


Golden Tag Resources Gives ECU Silver Mining Inc. Demand Notice to Cease Unauthorized Removal of Stockpile Material on the San Diego Joint Venture Property
CCNMatthews
MONTREAL, QUEBEC--(Marketwire - Aug. 13, 2009) - Golden Tag Resources Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:GOG) ("Golden Tag") has today presented a formal notice to ECU Silver Mining Inc. ("ECU") demanding the immediate cessation of the removal of stockpile material on the San Diego Property. Golden Tag has recently learned that ECU commenced unauthorized removal of surface stockpiles on the property at a daily rate of approximately 250 tonnes per day in clear contravention and breach of the ECU and Golden Tag joint venture agreement (the"JVA"). Removal of these stockpiles and transport of the material is continuing on a daily basis with a fleet of seven trucks. The material is being transported to the nearby processing facility of ECU. There are at least 40,000 tonnes of mineralized material grading 1% Lead, 1% Zinc and 100 grams Silver per ton on the property. The stockpiles represent Joint Venture Assets which can not be mined or processed without the authorization and approval of the Joint Venture committee. Such authorization and approval has not been requested or approved.


ECU, the designated operator of the San Diego joint venture has also failed to remedy prior fundamental breaches of the option and JVA, signed on November 2, 2005 in respect of the San Diego property (see press release: June 23rd 2009). The silver zinc rich property is located in the Velardena Mining District, Municipality of Cuencame, Durango State, Mexico (the "Property"). Golden Tag's counsel in a letter dated March 20, 2009 notified ECU of these breaches and Golden Tag subsequently received assurances that the breaches would be rectified within the requested 30 day period. Despite several follow-ups, the breaches have not been remedied. Golden Tag is fully vested in a 50% Property interest under the JVA.
_________________
Its only a gambling problem if you are losing...

[hobbers]

ECU Silver Inauguration of Oxide Mill

Press Release
Source: ECU Silver Mining Inc.
On Tuesday August 11, 2009, 8:01 am EDT

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Aug. 11, 2009) - ECU Silver Mining Inc. (TSX:ECU - News) is pleased to announce that, next week, the Governor of the State of Durango will officially inaugurate our Oxide Mill which we recently acquired and has been in operation since April of this year. The Governor's visit signifies the recognition by the Durango State Government that our Velardena Project is of significant importance with regard to the development of the mining industry in the Durango district.

The acquisition of the Oxide Mill has allowed ECU to create new employment in a difficult economic period and we are poised to create even more jobs once we finalize plans for a larger Sulphide Mill to handle the treatment of our significant sulphide mineral resources. In a period when most companies have been reducing employment, ECU added 90 direct jobs and invested about US$12M in the purchase and refurbishment of the Oxide Mill including further developing its mines.

In July the mill processed 14,207 tonnes in 28.5 days for an average of 498 tonnes per day, the mill did not operate for 2.5 days for the miner's holidays. The maximum production for one day was of 578 tonnes, well above the nameplate capacity of 500 tonnes per day.

The feed came from various sources, stopes, mine development and old low grade stockpiles as the mine focused on reaching new areas of production and sinking the shaft of the Santa Juana mine to level 19.

Detailed production numbers for July will be available later this month when we should also have news on the impact of a new in-situ leaching process we added in July to improve recoveries and on the progress in treating the pyrite concentrates we have accumulated.

Cautionary Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 27E of the Exchange Act. Such statements include, without limitation, statements regarding the future results of operations, performance and achievements of the Company, including potential property acquisitions, the timing, content, cost and results of proposed work programs, the discovery and delineation of mineral deposits/resources/reserves, geological interpretations, proposed production rates, potential mineral recovery processes and rates, the proposed construction of a mill, business and financing plans, business trends and future operating revenues. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as: believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, postulate and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking statements by the Company are not guarantees of future results or performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward looking statements as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to, variations in the nature, quality and quantity of any mineral deposits that may be located, significant downward variations in the market price of any minerals produced, the Company's inability to obtain any necessary permits, consents or authorizations required for their activities, to produce minerals from their properties successfully or profitably, to continue their projected growth, to raise the necessary capital or to be fully able to implement their business strategies. All of the Company's public disclosure filings may be accessed via www.sedar.com and readers are urged to review these materials, including the technical reports filed with respect to the Company's mineral properties.

The Toronto Stock Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the content of this Press Release.

Contact:

Michel Roy
ECU Silver Mining Inc.
Chairman and CEO
011 52 871 747 5750

Stephen Altmann
ECU Silver Mining Inc.
President
(416) 366-2428
(416) 366-8131 (FAX)
www.ecu.ca

[Gung Ho]

ECU is NOT Inka's favorite stock thats for sure.

ECU Silver (ECU.to): It's embarrassing

Posted: 13 Jul 2009 10:09 AM PDT

I mean, where do you begin with this dog? How can anyone that tries to pass themselves off as a GATA-expert in precious metals pump this scam with a straight face? Oh my stars...let's add a line or two to the ECU.to PR this morning:

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - July 13, 2009) - ECU Silver Mining Inc. reports on dore bar fabrication for the month of June.
Big deal. What kind of double-monkey cares about these monthly updates anyway? Who, apart from the greenest of greenhorn, gives a tarnation about these never-ending puff-pieces from a company that doesn't even have the common decency to announce when its lamentable quarterly results are filed?


In the month of June, our operations treating the oxide resource generated 32 dore bars with a total weight of 685 kilograms (kg).
Whoopdy-doo


Our assays of the dore bars indicated that they contained a total of approximately 542 ounces of gold and 14,406 ounces of silver.
At $915/oz Au and $13/oz Ag, that's U$683,208, or in loonies C$785,689. Once you've paid operating costs there may be enough left over to pay for the next bullshit press release.


To date we have generated 150 bars with a total weight of 3,071 kg containing 1,704 ounces of gold and 61,248 ounces of silver.
Or in other words, four months of farting around with a two-bit mill stolen from its previous owners and you've managed to get gross revenues of maybe C$2.5m. That's before you pay operating costs, the extravagant SG&A numbers you guys file, those stock-based compensation packages and those very cool undated loans that management offers itself. And even after its recent swandive in PPS this is a company with a market cap of close on a hundred and fifty million loonies! I just can't wait for the next quarterly, guys!


The amount of dore bars and the total weight for June was lower than that generated in the month of May due to a planned shutdown of the mill during June.
Well, let's ask our friend the owl what he thinks of this, cos this is new news, no?



We are planning to introduce higher grade gold material into the mill and the shutdown was initiated to make modifications to the mill to improve recoveries of this gold rich material.
What, so the other stuff you've been feeding is shit-grade? Dammit, why didn't you tell us before when the stock was touching 90c? You could have saved us all a ton of cash, dudes...bummer...

Productivity of the oxide operations was excellent as we averaged 451 tonnes per day (tpd) during the 19 operating days of June versus last month's average production of 408 tpd. The maximum milling rate for the month of June was 549 tpd versus the 493 tpd achieved in May.
And if you do a quick calculation, you'll work out that ECU has run about 20,000 tonnes of mineral through its pilfered machine so far, which means that the 80,000MT of total oxide ore they had to start with is depleting rather rapidly. So waddadey gonna do when the oxide mineral runs out? Maybe they can try putting through some of that sulfide stuff to see if it works*.


Dore shipments continue on a regular basis with the first of July's shipment having been made recently.
Doré is a brand of savoury crackers down this way...maybe they've confused their mid-morning snacks with production here. The end.

*yes, joking
_________________
If you don't trust GOLD,the only asset with a 6000 year track record, do you trust the logic of taking a $1,000 pine tree, cutting it up, turning it to pulp, putting some ink on it, and then calling it one billion $ dollars?

[coach247]

ECU did not waste any time firing back a response:

http://www.marketwire.com/pres.....08422.html

I wish there were more details to work with here. The 'third-party contractor' involved must be a drilling company, or perhaps a road construction firm. Assuming they get paid, I do not see any real liability in regards to ownership of the property, and no reason for GOG to claim cash damages associated with the issue.

ECU has basically suggested San Diego is not the most important priority and told GOG to get to the back of the bus. It remains to be seen whether there is any merit to the rest of the issues described by GOG.

More drama...

mike
_________________
Its only a gambling problem if you are losing...

[coach247]

I will be interested to see the ECU response to these charges. For sure its serious if all the points covered are true. I am having trouble understanding why contractors would not be paid, and why ECU has not funded its share of the JV expenses, if ECU just finished a multi-million dollar placement and is generating revenue from operations now. It is not uncommon to see disputes between JV partners but once these things come down to public NR battles, it does not work out well for either company. I have been adding to my ECU shares this month, but I get tired of the drama that always seems to revolve around this stock. I will wait to hear from management before I come to any conclusions about wtf is going on.

I will be very disappointed if GOG gets operatorship of that project, since IMO they could not operate a peanut stand. People can love or hate ECU, but no one can argue with the accomplishments over the last couple of years at the end of the drill bit.

cheers!

mike
_________________
Its only a gambling problem if you are losing...

[hobbers]

Golden Tag wants San Diego arbitration, to be operator


2009-06-23 17:46 ET - News Release

See News Release (C-GOG) Golden Tag Resources Ltd

Mr. Marc Carrier of Golden Tag Resources reports

GOLDEN TAG RESOURCES GIVES ECU SILVER MINING INC. NOTICE OF ARBITRATION TO ENFORCE RIGHTS IN THE SAN DIEGO PROPERTY JOINT VENTURE

Golden Tag Resources Ltd. has given a formal notice to ECU Silver Mining Inc. demanding arbitration consequent upon having determined that ECU Silver Mining, the operator of their San Diego joint venture, has failed to remedy fundamental breaches of the option and joint venture agreement, signed on Nov. 2, 2005, in respect of the San Diego property. The silver-zinc-rich property is located in the Velardena mining district, municipality of Cuencame, Durango state, Mexico. Golden Tag Resources' counsel, in a letter dated March 20, 2009, notified ECU Silver Mining of these breaches and Golden Tag Resources subsequently received assurances that the breaches would be rectified within the requested 30-day period. Despite several follow-ups, the breaches have not been remedied. Golden Tag Resources is fully vested in a 50-per-cent property interest under the joint venture agreement.

Among the breaches of ECU Silver Mining which Golden Tag Resources believes will be substantiated at arbitration are that ECU Silver Mining:

Allowed a third party charge against the property contrary to the joint venture agreement.

Invoiced Golden Tag Resources for joint venture expenses but did not remit the moneys to pay joint venture suppliers on a timely basis, some suppliers still being unpaid.

Failed to timely contribute its equivalent pro rata share of financing to the joint venture.

Failed to follow proper procedures and timely financial reporting.
Due to these significant breaches, Golden Tag Resources plans to seek the right to assume operatorship of the property, dilution of the interest of ECU Silver Mining and/or compensatory damages and other relief.

We seek Safe Harbor.

[Dajets97]

ECU Silver produces 56 silver-gold dore bars in May


2009-06-11 08:15 ET - News Release

Mr. Michel Roy reports

ECU SILVER REPORTS ON FIRST MONTH OF DORE GENERATION

ECU Silver Mining Inc. has completed one full month of dore bar fabrication.

In the company's first full month of operation within its oxide resource, it has generated 56 dore bars with a total weight of 1,135 kilograms. The company's assays of the dore bars show that they contain a total of approximately 614 ounces of gold and 23,354 ounces of silver. At current commodity prices of around $950 (U.S.) per ounce for gold and $15 (U.S.) per ounce for silver, the dore bars generated in the month of May represent a gross value in the order of $935,000 (U.S.).

ECU's mining team is advancing nicely with the underground development, and the oxide mill continues to operate very well. The mill averaged a daily throughput of 408 tonnes per day, with the best day being 493 tonnes per day. A total of 12,641 tonnes were treated grading 2.05 grams of gold and 104 grams of silver. This tonnage includes low-grade material that was used during initial operation of the mill in its early ramp-up period.

We seek Safe Harbor.

[coach247]

Hi Gung Ho!

I have met Tom Szabo and he made the effort to travel to Reno for the Smartinvestment.ca Conference in November. He is a gentleman and very knowledgeable about mining stocks and trading of futures. I wish him well. However I also have profound disagreement to express with his opinion, and please feel free to share my rebuttle to his comments...

Tom only quotes the M&I oxide resources in his numbers. Part of the strategy for ECU production is to run the a blended mix of the oxides and the pyrite concentrate produced from the floatation recovery circuit. This has the effect to enrich the throughput. They also plan to process the stockpile of tailings left over from many years of past production, that is rich in gold. I have raised the issue of metallurgy challenges in this mix, but with Dan Kappes on the BOD and is contributing his expertise in improving the recovery efficiency, I have been told that the new mill will be able to process the material and yield positive recoveries. When we start seeing reports of the efficiency they are generating it will be possible to comment further. But for sure the total production numbers cited by Tom are woefully underestimating the reality.

Keep in mind that inferred resources amount to more than three-quarters of the total mineral inventory. As ECU has developed underground workings to access the drill-indicated vein resources, they have discovered that the overall grade of the deposit has increased. Because the veins tend to be narrow and irregular, the drill core often misses the higher grade or wider vein intervals. When they actually develop the stopes all of the ore grade material is extracted and this has been well-documented that the overall grade and tonnage is higher than estimated by resource numbers. So including the inferred resources to the total makes the whole issue less of a concern.

Next keep in mind that part of the reason the oxide resources were not expanded is because the oxides did not behave well in the floatation cell process. The company focused their efforts on exploring the deeper sulphide resource zones on the property. Now that they have a means to run that material with high recovery efficiency the company will probably dedicate more time to exploration to expand the oxide resources.

The comment expressed by Tom about the narrow veins is inaccurate. It is not the dilution that has generated lower resource numbers, but the fact that NI43-101 reporting standards require a tight drill density and multiple pierce-points for each vein in order to count them in the inferred inventory. Since most of these zones do not have the requisite drill density, for the purposes of a resource estimate, they do not exist. However as the company develops these shallow mineral zones, they can go ahead and mine it whether it is reported as a resource or not.

The fact is that NI43-101 reports are overly conservative for accounting of the resources in narrow veins. This does not mean narrow veins are not profitable to mine. It does mean that a company must operate at high levels of efficiency, and the ore grade must be higher because dilution is a factor.

I am not the spokesman for ECU. I own the stock, and I have been undergound to visit the project twice, and I have witnessed the mine development, ore extraction, and the operation of the floatation circuit. From what I have seen, the company has a very good chance of generating a profit and of funding the ongoing exploration work. ECU has faced many severe challenges and managed to deal with them along the way. But it is not a stock for everyone. If you do not think it is worth the risk to own this stock, do not buy it. Its that simple. For me, I expect big things from this company.

cheers!

mike
_________________
Its only a gambling problem if you are losing...

[Gung Ho]

Hi Coach,

Not everybody agrees with you heres a contrairian view I recently received from Tom Szabo



What to do when all boats rise?

Tom Szabo is the man behind The Metal Augmentor, a Canadian website with a subscription service that follows the metals market. It also has a community of investors that swap information. You can check out
the website at www.metalaugmentor.com

Regarding your recent post on ECU Silver, I can't recall if you mentioned this or not but the CIL
plant they "purchased" in March was actually a "repurchase" from Hecla. Hecla's financial
statement disclosures indicate there was a mechanics lien on the plant that originated
before ECU sold it to Hecla back a few years ago. Apparently, ECU did not pay the guys who
got the plant up and running and instead sold it to Hecla without disclosing that basic piece of
information. I have copied at the end of this email the relevant section from the 10-K**.

Furthermore, since this is a CIL plant, they actually need to be feeding it oxide gold and silver.
With a recovery rate of 78% gold and 58% silver as per the NI43-101 they have oxide M&I of
80,000 oz. recoverable gold and 3.2 million oz. recoverable silver (no wonder they use tonnage
and not ounces to describe the production "potential" of this "new" plant). My guess is that "all"
this gold and silver isn't sitting in one location either but is spread throughout the mines. As a
result, it is unlikely they will make $8 million in cash flows to cover the cost of the mill. Indeed,
as Hecla's disclosures indicate, the "creditor" who has the lien on the mill had just prevailed in
court as of February 2009, so ECU buying the mill back could have been more of an attempt to
sweep the mess under the rug as opposed to a good business decision.

Perhaps more important than the above in the long run is that most of the Velardeña veins tend
to be very narrow and thus any mining may suffer from high labor cost and significant
dilution. Dilution appears to be a major reason why most of the M&I gold and silver may never
get converted to reserves and much of the inferred gold and silver may never get converted to
M&I (and as you have already stated, those lead and zinc credits are way overstated when
converted to "silver equivalent"). Simply put, selective mining is required or dilution becomes
excessive. Indeed, Micon uses a 1 meter diluted grade which is not possible with any standard
stoping methods.


**Here is the excerpt from the Hecla 10-K:

In Mexico, our wholly owned subsidiary, Minera Hecla, S.A de C.V., currently is involved in two cases in the State of
Durango, Mexico, concerning the Velardeña mill. The Velardeña mill processed ore from our now closed San Sebastian mine, and
the mill was placed on care and maintenance upon closure of the mine. In the first case we are interveners in a commercial action
initiated in April of 2006 by a creditor to the prior owner of the mill. In that litigation, the creditor to the prior mill owner seeks to
demonstrate that he has an ownership interest in the mill arising out of an allegedly unpaid prior debt. We are contesting this action,
and deny the assertion that the plaintiff has an ownership interest in the mill. We take this position for a number of reasons,
including the fact that the mill was sold to us prior to plaintiff’s obtaining his alleged ownership interest. In the second matter, a
civil action involving Minera Hecla that is in a different court within the State of Durango, the same creditor as in the first case
claims that his ownership of the Velardeña mill relates back to the time he allegedly performed the work on which the debt was
based, rather than the time that he filed his lien relating to the debt, which was after the mill was sold to us. We are contesting the
position of the creditor.

In February 2009 we received notice that the court in the first matter referenced above ruled in favor of the creditor, and also
in February 2009, we filed a timely appeal. We are currently negotiating with the plaintiff who has offered to purchase the mill from
Minera Hecla. If such negotiations are successful, the above referenced litigation will be dismissed with prejudice.

The basis for our defense in the above matter is that we have a judicially determined valid bill of sale for the Velardeña mill.
Thus, we believe that the claims of the creditor and his successors are without merit, and that Minera Hecla is the sole owner of the
Velardeña mill. We intend to zealously defend our ownership interest. Although there can be no assurance as to the outcome of
these proceedings, we believe that the proceedings will not have a material adverse effect on our results from operations or on our
financial position.

Regards, Tom
_________________
If you don't trust GOLD,the only asset with a 6000 year track record, do you trust the logic of taking a $1,000 pine tree, cutting it up, turning it to pulp, putting some ink on it, and then calling it one billion $ dollars?

[coach247]

The 'skinny veins' myth has been out there for a while, based on the near surface ore that was in production a few years ago. It comes down to people who do not do their homework to stay current with the story. There are many zones that have been outlined for hundreds of meters that are bulk-tonnage extraction, including the lower grade breccia that has been outlined for the last couple of years, and the massive sulphides to depth that were the big story a year ago. There are also the chimney structures that were reported in 2006 which extend across 5-7m intervals and remain open to depth. ECU has proven they can mine the narrow veins efficiently, and they are of high enough grade to make the exercise worthwhile, but most of the total mineral inventory is comprised of wider vein and dessiminated ore that is definately not the narrow vein variety.

cheers!

mike
_________________
Its only a gambling problem if you are losing...

[dirkdiggler]

Brent Cook's very brief comments at the 15:25 point...........

http://watch.bnn.ca/market-cal.....clip177746

[dirkdiggler]

[Dsquare]

Heard someone recently on BNN describe this company as a sell based on "skinny veins" and high market cap. Any comments? Still have some of this so wondering if I should dump it now or hold it through the next expected decline in PM's.
_________________
If We Had Some Global Warming
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Hide the Decline
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