RE: RE: RE: It's getting worse It seems to me that the market conditions for exploration companies raising capital are better now than they have been in a while. Companies can (almost) always get money...it's just a question of price. We have seen the outline of an agreement on FDN and now Ecuador says they hope to sign Ecuacorriente by the end of the month. They have missed more of their own deadlines than I have fingers and toes to keep track, but who knows...they might just hit one someday!
At any rate, when there are signed contracts with definitive terms, then the market will be able to value these companies, until then, it is certainly a risk. That said, I think the broad terms are pretty well understood by all at this point. One final thing on this and that is if you look at the material that the Ministry of Non Renewable Resources has put out, they are looking at the mining sector as three tiers. There are the five strategic projects, small miners and artisinal miners. I would not be surprised to see a tax/royalty structure that is geared accordingly. They have stated that they want to encourage the development of small mining companies and lower taxes/royalties are clearly one of the most effective means of achieving that. Until we see the actual deals, it is speculation, but at least it is speculation based on materials from the Ecuadorian government.
If you read up on how VMS deposits like srl's are formed and you read the Canaccord report, then it becomes clear that the potential for other deposits to be discovered close by is high. Their regional exploration work has already turned up lots of targets. It seems probable to me that there will eventually be over 1MM oz Au at El Domo. These VMS clusters usually have one big one and then several smaller deposits. Maybe El Domo is one of the smaller ones. We just don't know yet, imo.
There are plenty of reasons why srl belongs in the very speculative part of one's portfolio (if at all), but I don't think they deserve the unrelenting bashing that you have chosen as your life's work. ;^)