the company gets to pick which three concessions it will keep. the la zarza concession (which includes fdn will undoubtedly be one of the three. i expect the others will be the two directly to the north and south of la zarza along strike.

it's all of the other concessions that will be offered for sale and/or put up for auction if the company does not exercise its right of first refusal. to me, this seems fair. as a government official put it, a previous administration gave away those concessions for the price of a sick chicken. basically $1-3/yr for 5,000 hectares of land, which is great for the mining companies, but terrible for ecuador.

if the companies have chosen their land carefully, as aru did, they will be able to keep their concessions. the speculators who bought up nearby land as area plays, and had no intention of developing anything, will not exercise their rights. if anything that will only leave more opportunities for aru.