Does this mean they are dropping the windfall tax?

That was the worst part of the old proposal.
If so this 3-5% royalty tax is much better than I hoped for.

I breezed through the entire document and couldn't find any reference to a WFP tax. Outside of concession fees, which appear reasonable, the royalty rates were the only reference to actual fees I could find.

Don't forget, the WFP tax proposal came out of the Revenue Dept. not the Mining Ministry. We haven't heard anything since, so let's hope it's a dead issue. Income tax and any other fees will be on top of the royalties. Total govt. take? Probably in the 40% range is my guess.

From a cursory glance, the area we're most likely to have trouble with is National Forest Reserves (we're in one) and water use. Reclamation may be an issue for later owners, assuming we can sell the thing. There are set-asides from state revenue for this purpose, but that doesn't preclude assessments for environmental damage - at least that I can tell.

There's enough subjective language on the environment to guarantee future lawsuits from various parties, but that's not unique to Ecuador. We'll have to wait and see what materializes in that dept.

Speaking of wait and see, I guess the market is neutral on this latest development. No reaction in the shares, and surely everyone's had a chance to pick this thing over by now. Oh well, at least we didn't crash.

That's my entire morning shot and now I'm waaaay behind!

ebear