It has been just nine weeks since Ecuador dealt the mining industry one of its worst setbacks in recent memory, and Patrick Anderson is just glad the country now appears to be on the right track.

"The situation is developing, but it seems to be developing in the right direction," the chief executive of AurelianResources Inc. said in an interview ahead of the company's annual meeting yesterday.

That would have seemed impossible on April 18, the day Ecuador's Constituent Assembly passed its Mining Mandate.

The mandate, a product of far-left politician Alberto Acosta, revoked most concessions and shut down mining activity for six months. Investors fled Aurelian and other Ecuador-based mining companies in droves and the share prices plummeted.

Aurelian reports that the situation is better today --none of its concessions have actually been cancelled, and a draft mining law that would supersede the mandate will be presented to the companies this week. Aurelian saw early drafts of the law, and the terms appeared to be perfectly reasonable.

Perhaps the best news of all came this week, when Mr. Acosta resigned his post as head of the assembly.

Ecuadorians are furious at the assembly over the Mining Mandate and other measures that have led to thousands of job losses.

It is thought that public anger was one factor that helped him out of office, as well as a rift with the governing party. "Ecuador has been a wonderful country, a country seeing growth and the re-emergence of prosperity since we've been down there. But in the past few months, you've seen unemployment up, inflation up, crime up," Mr. Anderson said.

Rafael Correa, Ecuador's President, is a strong supporter of mining and continues to say the right things in public. But investors are holding their breath until they see the proposed mining law.

Not surprisingly, Aurelian's annual meeting felt more like a political science class than a mining presentation, as investors grilled the company with often obscure questions about Ecuador's politics and legislative process.

Aurelian would much rather talk about its "Fruta del Norte" gold-silver discovery in the southeast part of the country, which remains one of the best finds in decades and has made the stock a core holding of resource funds.

"The deposit's scale [19.3 million ounces gold and equivalent modeled] and high grade would make it a 'must own' for senior producers if Ecuador would pass an acceptable mining law," Haywood Securities analyst Eric Zaunscherb wrote in a note to clients.

Aurelian's share price has ticked upwards since the man-date was passed April 18, but it still remains about 40% below prior levels.

Despite the turmoil, Mr. Anderson said that the core shareholders have stood by the company. "I think a lot of the core shareholders were not only holding, they were buying …I think we lost a lot of our retail investors, if not most."

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