I am not aware of any private placement for ECU and the mill is paid for already and there is no reason to pay down the debt as relations are good and the debt was just recently extended. As far as expansion plans there has been a 3 phase expansion plan communicated publicly for at least the last year and it's right in the companies PowerPoint presentation.

The scoping study is coming as stated in the most recent financials and this has been under development for a long time. Any expansion plans and costs associated have numerous options available to the company and the company has been on record stating they prefer minimum dilution options. In any event, I am not aware of any present plans to move quickly on a major expansion in production and of course the economic study referenced above has not even been published yet so how can someone outside the company determine that the company will triple production when they don't even know the final outcome of the initial economic study.

ECU is just turning the corner to become cashflow positive and firm the balance sheet and someone starts some unsubstantiated rumour which it looks like some sold stock on at the end of the day. If the company has a small cash gap or wants some breathing room to restart exploration earlier, as I know some here would like to see, it would not take a very big offering.