I suspect that the FDN site will start shutting down for Christmas by the end of next this coming week until after New Years.  In Latin American countries Christmas is much more prolonged event then in North America.   The Ecuadorian government is going to be shut down, the company and its staff will be off for a couple of weeks, the Investment bankers are going to be in the Caribbean improving their tans and only the low of the lowest traders will be manning the trading desks.
No doubt things are looking better for mining in Ecuador then they did a month ago.   The direction that the government is going is starting to look clearer (although lots is still not known).  I like what the government has been doing to support mining over the past month (see the many past posts) and it is changing the risk equation.  Yes the involvement of China may have triggered some of the statement about open pit mining but it could equally be a response to Chavez's referendum defeat in Venezuela.   Maybe all those unhappy Venezuelan's are giving Correa second thoughts as to how much of a rebel he really wants to be. However there isn't going to be much information released in the next couple of weeks and I can't see that there is much of a reason why someone would trigger a take over right now.

I don't see anything meaningful coming from the company until the next news release in mid-January or the government until mid-February or later. With the exception of a few blips up and down over the past year we have been trading in the $7.50 to $8.50 range most of the time.  Until we see some news our shares will bounce around a bit as gold moves, and the MM's play their games.  In the past month we have dropped from about $10 to $7.5 on good drill results and gold prices.   The $0.50 gain of the past couple of days to $8 pales in comparison to the manipulation.  So, unless the stock gets battered into the mid 6’s (then I’ll buy) I plan on sitting out and waiting to see what 2008 brings.

So continue to hope that they hit something so big that it is considered a ‘material change’ and ARU is forced to release the news.   It wouldn’t bother me at all to open up my account and try to figure why I’m worth twice as much (or so) as I was the night before!   Otherwise don’t get too caught up in the day to day manipulations or it will drive you nuts.   In the end it will sell and we will get to pay our capital gains taxes :)