There has been talk in Ecuador of the government trying to prevent a single company from controlling very large concessions. I wonder whether KB's departure could be related to that. Does Avalanche plan on making a play for Aurelian's non-FDN concessions? Just a thought...

That sounds like one of Acosta's proposals. His crowd are against big mining on priniciple (although exactly what principle is hard to tell) and given that they appear to be losing the fight, they are trying for an end-run, creating conditions that would be unfavorable to big outfits that operate on scale.

I can understand some of their concerns. With high commodity prices, it becomes economical to mine lower grade deposits. This translates into large open pit operations that can stretch for miles. Not a pretty sight, and something you definitely want to avoid if at all possible. Nonetheless, with proper management you can limit the impact, and where Ecuador is concerned, the deposits appear to be high enough grade that you don't have to go that route, except in a few limited cases. This is what Correa meant by accepting some environmental damage in the name of the greater good.

There is nothing stopping Aurelian from farming out some of their concessions, in fact I'm surprised they haven't done so by now. It's a huge area, and the terrain is very rough with lots of overburden. Gold's not exactly jumping out at you. Look at FDN. A blind deposit.

There's an old Wall St. expression that says "bulls and bears make money, but pigs get slaughtered." I hope Aurelian has the good sense to follow my unsolicited advice to the Ecuadorean govt. (whom I'm sure hang on my every word) to take a small piece of a big pie, rather than try for a big piece of a small pie (or no pie at all).

Farm out some of the concessions you guys! Give some other explorers a kick at the cat.

ebear