TD Waterhouse published a three page report on ECU this morning. They are maintaining their HOLD recommendation, and keeping the target at $1.50. Here is how they summarize their report:
"We view the transaction positively as we believe the contribution of Golden Minerals’ mine building expertise and the greater financial capacity of the combined company provides ECU shareholders with a credible path to benefit from the development of a large scale underground mine at Velardena, e.g. one with production on the order of 5 million oz of silver, 100,000 oz of gold, and 25 million lbs or so of lead and zinc annually, as suggested on the conference call. This, we believe, is exposure ECU shareholders evidently did not have as an independent company which, for several years, has been unable to meaningfully advance the project toward this goal in our view.
However, without additional details on the development plans for Velardena and El Quevar (Golden Minerals’ flagship asset), it is difficult for us to be constructive on the name at this time. As a result, we make no changes to our estimates and maintain our HOLD recommendation."
