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Message: ECU investment overview

ECU investment overview

posted on Apr 24, 2009 01:36PM

Introduction

ECU Silver Mining Inc. is one of the most exciting junior precious metals companies in the industry today! The Company has one of the largest undeveloped silver equivalent mineral inventories in the world, standing at 431 million ounces. The Company is headquartered in Quebec and maintains an executive office in Toronto, the heart of the Canadian capital markets and also has an operations office in Torreon, Mexico which is a short distance from the Company’s mining operations.

ECU Silver has been extremely successful in the exploration for gold, silver, lead, and zinc. However, there is more to the story. Most recently, the Company acquired a second mill which will fabricate gold and silver doré bars. With the Company now owning two mills, it is aggressively pursuing growth opportunities on the production side. The Company’s operations and mineral resources are located within their Velardeña District Properties. These lie within the prolific mining district of Velardeña where mining activities have been ongoing for nearly 500 years!

Velardeña District Mineral Resources

The Velardeña Properties are located in the State of Durango, Mexico about 600 miles southwest of Houston, TX. In January 2009, ECU published its fourth technical report where it outlines a 431 million ounce silver equivalent resource. They have grown its mineral resource from a small 23.6 million ounces in July 2005 to an enormous 431 million ounces. This is a 1700% increase in just 3½ years, a tremendous achievement!

Over and above ECU’s reported mineral resource, the technical report also outlines a further mineral potential of another 570 to 930 million silver equivalent ounces. If realized, this could eventually take ECU’s resource to over one billion ounces. The mineral resource was audited by the highly respected firm of Micon International and is compliant with National Instrument 43-101 standards, which essentially provides an extra layer of validation to the resource. The technical report can be accessed on the Company’s website www.ecu.ca or at www.sedar.com.

What differentiates ECU from other silver companies is that ECU mineral resource has a large gold component. In fact, about 2/3rds of ECU’s mineral resource is gold and silver, with the rest being mostly lead and zinc. Gold actually makes up almost half of ECU’s precious metal content.

Milling Operations

In March 2009, the Company acquired a 500 tonne-per-day (“tpd”) gold and silver recovery plant (the “Oxide Plant”) from Hecla Mining Co. This was a milestone transaction for the Company since the Oxide Plant should allow ECU to generate revenues through the production of silver/gold doré bars. This is a very important step for ECU because almost all junior mining companies have been severely discounted due to the risk they will run out of cash and the lack of funding available from the capital markets. ECU has essentially, for the most part, reduced this financial risk through the acquisition of the Plant.

The Company announced its first silver/gold pour in April 2009 within six weeks of acquiring the Oxide Plant. This is absolutely remarkable given most Companies take at least six months to commission a mill.

ECU’s second plant consists of a 320 tpd flotation mill that can make a lead/silver concentrate and a zinc concentrate. As prices for lead and zinc start to strengthen again, ECU will be well poised to increase its revenues from their flotation mill.

Valuation

The global economic crisis has had a severe impact on junior mining stocks. The biggest factor remains the financial risk facing a majority of these companies. ECU has overcome this problem with its ability to generate revenues from the Oxide Plant. ECU will be doing additional pours of silver/gold doré bars over the next few months which should act as a catalyst to its share price.

For several years prior to the global economic crisis, ECU was trading at a market value of approximately $3.00 per ounce of in-ground silver equivalent while the silver price averaged $10 to $15 per ounce. When the global crisis worsened in late 2008, non-producing junior mining companies were severely devalued as the market perceived perpetual financial risk.

Today, ECU has a significant mineral resource, has two operational mills, is in one of the best mining jurisdictions in the world and is trading at only $0.30 per ounce. With silver prices at or above $12 per ounce, ECU’s valuation should rebound to previous levels. Any further silver price escalation toward last year’s high of $21 per ounce will provide even greater support for ECU’s share price. The Chart below clearly illustrates the opportunity which is presented by ECU, a company in production with a resource of 431 million silver equivalent ounces.

The Future

In mid 2008, ECU’s exploration program hit massive sulphide mineralization at depth. These massive sulphides have significant grades that have the potential to quickly add significantly more ounces to ECU’s already sizeable mineral resource. ECU plans to further drill into this massive sulphide deposit.

The Company also plans to expand into a much larger mining operation, in order to optimize the value of its significant mineral resource. This will allow ECU to generate substantially more revenues in support of a higher stock price.

As major producers need to replace their reserves, the question is, “will ECU remain independent”?

Several major mining companies are looking to grow in Mexico, a mining friendly environment. Mexico’s mining sector is not encumbered by political interference, lack of infrastructure, outdated mining laws, and difficult environmental regulations.

Senior Management

Michel Roy, Chief Executive Officer, joined ECU as President in 1999. He came to the Company with 25 years experience in international mining, in Mexico, Brazil, the USA and Canada. His conviction and dedication to the success of this project is more than apparent due to the fact that Michel moved his family from Rouyn-Noranda Quebec, 10 years ago so that he could manage operations in Mexico. Michel has spearheaded an exceptional rise in the Company’s mineral resource growth and is now focused on production growth as well as further exploration successes.

Stephen Altmann, President, is a former Investment Banker and geophysicist. He joined ECU in early 2007. Since then he has attracted institutional research coverage from two major investment banks, negotiated acquisitions of claims and the mill and raised over $50 million for the Company. Steve’s role will continue to help Michel in the strategic focus of the Company while looking for financing alternatives for the Company’s production growth plans as well as evaluating merger and acquisition opportunities for the Company.

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Apr 24, 2009 02:06PM
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