jnycat. Some good questions, and the frustration comes through in your post. I don't have all the answers, but I can chime in with my view of what is going on. Just so you know, I have a bout 1/4 million shares and am trying to add a few more. My average cost per share is about $1 so I am underwater as are many. I am very frustrated by the price action of the shares. Who isn't disappointed?

In my opinion, the management is doing what they believe is necessary to strengthen the company. They are a pretty lean bunch and have not spent any money on a PR firm which to me is a fiscally responsible decision. Would rather get the un-spun story in dribbles than to get a bunch of rah rah spin all the time with no real data.

The properties-resources-reserves put ECU in a very strong position relative to their peers and to the share price. They are actually producing metal from their properties which is also a very positive fact and removes a lot of risk with respect to the share price. You know that the metal price is in a strong bull market even though 90% of the people can’t spell pm.

All gold and silver mines are subject to the manipulation of the new york criminal element. Numerous reports indicate that shorting, naked shorting, round trip trading are all being used to keep any enthusiasm out of the pm market. Given the high profile of ECU it is easy to see that this is one stock that is in the line of fire of those new york criminals.

So we find ourselves in a position that the share price is well supported by fundamentals and negatively affected by lack of popular participation and targeted manipulation. The fundamentals are real, the manipulation is contrived and it under fire.

The decision each of us makes is do we believe fundamentals will over power the crooks. I look at the price of the metals over the last 8 years and say fundamentals are doing very well. Metal prices are doing well yet pm stocks are lagging. I stick with the stock because of the fundamentals and the belief that sooner or later the new york criminals will have to retreat.
FWIW