Ascendant Copper fka ACX

[Deep_Digger]

Hi Energyguy,

Welcome aboard here.

It seems hard to find a junior mining company with more potential than this one when you look at what they believe is underground.

Please take a look at this page for a description of one of their concessions:

http://www.ascendantcopper.com/index.cfm?p=24

Of course, with 900 million tons of copper in the ground (at a .4 cut-off grade and copper at 2.45/lb) the pps should be sky high, and it most definitely is not.

Between the company and the minerals is a very determined environmentalist.

You can start your dd here: http://www.decoin.org/ The guy behind that organization is a Cuban American, Carlos Zorrilla, who seems to be quite media savvy. I believe that he genuinely would not like to see mining in the area. Many other environmental groups seem to have picked up his fight as it helps them raise funds for themselves. Zorrilla does not speak for all the inhabitants of the area, however.

Apparently, there are few indigenous people in the area and the large majority are campesinos from other places, many of whom are involved in illegal logging. Much of the area seems to be denuded of trees, from photos I have seen from places other than the DECOIN web site. This is because of the poverty there and lack of other economic options. DECOIN claims to be working on coffee, but I am not sure of how extensive it is.

I think that some local people believe that they will not see any of the money that comes from mining, as may have been the case in the past with other companies. This pov is likely being encouraged by DECOIN. Ascendant appears to genuinely want to help the economic development of the surrounding communities, which would go far in decreasing their need to rely on illegal logging and deforestation.

Zorrilla has encouraged people to block the roads to Ascendant's concessions, a tactic of many leftists in South America. It is easy to demonize Ascendant as a "greedy transnational corporation" that will destroy the environment and leave the people there with even less than they have now, as this kind of situation may have happened in the past with other companies in other areas.

Also, Ascendant has perhaps erred in the past with its choice of local partners in the project, some who had little respect for the campesinos, apparently. Also, some locals who are for mining have, out of frustration, overstepped their bounds. That did not help Ascendant's case.

The new government in Ecuador seems to be very supportive of mining (done properly) and apparently the Minister of Energy and Mines would like to see mining take a much more prominent place in Ecuador's economy, similar to other countries in the region. Right now, it is a minuscule portion of the economy.

It is hard to guess what the outcome will be, but it seems that Zorrilla may be overplaying his hand, as many local people and groups are seeing that Ascendant is very sincere in its commitment to the environment, and to them. They are beginning to throw their support behind the company.

With their support, this could be one of the most productive copper mines in the world.

In that case, the pps would certainly reflect that...