"It would be of interest to learn exactly what date it was that the Mining Law was posted on the Gov't site. Was it just posted the last 48 hrs or has it been sitting there for some time, being amended when necessary.

It IS posted there indicating it's a DRAFT - isn't it?"

The draft mining law referenced in yesterday's EMN article is available through a link on the following site:

http://www.menergia.gov.ec/

... through the link on the main page "Borrador del Documento de Trabajo para el Proyecto de Nueva Ley de Mineria" which translates to "Draft Working Paper for New Draft Law on Mining".

The document was last modified on 5/15/2008 ... this can be verified through the File Properties option when viewing the file with Adobe Reader.

I am not sure when the document was actually posted on http://www.menergia.gov.ec/ but this version was definitely available through the site on 5/27/2008. I have a copy that I downloaded and saved on that date that is an exact match of the document that is currently available through http://www.menergia.gov.ec/.