Golden Minerals Company (AUMN)

[basserdan]

<<<No news from El Quevar for months now!! Drilling spectacular holes without releasing new NI-43>>>


Months? Wake up, picassa...

This excerpt from last week's AUMN PR seems to address both of
the concerns you cited above.

El Quevar Project

The Company continued evaluation of the El Quevar Project in the Salta Province of northern Argentina during the quarter. As previously reported, a preliminary evaluation of the geologic data from the underground drifting suggests that the deposit may be amenable to bulk mining. This could include a potential open pit on the east and central areas of the Yaxtché zone, along with bulk underground mining in the west Yaxtché zone.

Two drills are currently in operation at El Quevar. The Company has developed an underground drill program for the east and central Yaxtché zones, with a 1,300 meter fan drilling program planned for the next several months. Approximately 30 holes of a planned 50 surface drill hole program have been completed on the west Yaxtché zone to provide infill drill data and additional information for the geologic model. The Company has received results for 13 of the holes, of which 10 holes intersected five or more meters of values exceeding 100 grams per tonne silver. This included drill hole QVD-341 which contained a four meter intercept that averaged 878 grams per tonne silver, and hole QVD-342 which contained a 22 meter intercept that averaged 717 grams per tonne silver. To date, a total of approximately 392 diamond drill holes have been completed at the El Quevar project, of which 260 holes (65,800 meters) have been drilled in the Yaxtché zone.

An updated Canadian National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") compliant mineral resource estimate on El Quevar is being prepared by the independent consulting firm of Pincock, Allen and Holt (PAH). The PAH resource estimate will consider an economic resource from an open pit on the east and central Yaxtché zones and bulk mining by underground methods on the west Yaxtché zone. The updated resource estimate for the El Quevar project is expected about year-end 2011."

*****

Speaking of 43-101's, picassa, that PR also had this to say about the report being prepared at the Valerdana resource in Mexico:

Velardeña Operations

The Velardeña Operation is a gold, silver and base metals mining and processing operation located in the State of Durango, Mexico. The operations include two underground mines, the Velardeña Mine and the Chicago Mine, and an associated 500 tonne per day oxide plant and 320 tonne per day sulfide plant. The Velardeña Mine contains four principal mining areas: Santa Juana, Terneras, San Juanes and San Mateo. The Chicago Mine is located approximately two kilometers south of the Velardeña Mine.

Since January 2008, ECU has mined sulfide and oxide mineralized material from the Velardeña Operation and produced lead, zinc and pyrite concentrates along with doré bars. In the first nine months of 2011, the Velardeña Operation produced approximately 272,000 ounces of silver, 5,000 ounces of gold, 650,000 pounds of zinc and 433,000 pounds of lead. During the fourth quarter of 2011, production will be negatively impacted as the Company completes mine development work and implements operational changes and improvements in the processing facilities. The Company expects production rates to increase commencing in the first quarter of 2012, and by the fourth quarter of 2012, annual production rates are estimated to be over 800,000 ounces of silver, 16,000 ounces of gold and one million pounds of combined lead and zinc. Production levels are expected to increase substantially once the planned sulfide plant is operational.

Since the Company assumed management on September 2, 2011, operational improvements have included moving the underground mine development out of the veins and into the adjacent footwall structures. Although this work has decreased production of plant feed temporarily, ore head grades to the plants have improved by approximately 45% for silver and 24% for gold, with the head grades and daily feed expected to continue to increase as the mine development opens more working faces for ore extraction. Process control improvements in the oxide plant have increased silver recoveries from approximately 54% to 73%, with additional metallurgical test work and operational improvements ongoing. Process control improvements in the sulfide plant have improved lead, zinc and pyrite concentrate production and quality.

Approximately 600 meters of new mine development have been completed since September 2, 2011. In addition, the Company has commenced work on the San Mateo ramp. About 900 meters of the five meter by five meter main production ramp had been previously completed but subsequently halted in 2008. The Company expects to complete 1,400 meters of ramp and lateral accesses during the balance of 2011 and 2012, which will provide haulage access for undeveloped ores in the San Mateo, San Juanes and Terneras mining areas, and will ultimately provide the primary access for the Santa Juana area. The Santa Juana area is comprised of a vein group that is expected to provide the opportunity for large scale tonnage extraction for the planned 2,000 tonne per day sulfide plant.

Approximately $6 million in modern mining equipment for the Velardeña and Chicago mines is expected to arrive over the next several months, including approximately $4 million of equipment that is no longer required at El Quevar due to the changing scope of that project. The equipment includes three hydraulic jumbo drills, nine scooptrams and two underground haul trucks, along with ancillary underground and surface equipment. The equipment will be used to advance the San Mateo ramp and to modernize the Velardeña and Chicago mines.

The Company is moving forward with the evaluation, design and engineering of a new 2,000 tonne per day sulfide plant. Samuel Engineering has been retained by Golden Minerals to lead the engineering effort. The Company expects that engineering, construction and ramp-up of the new plant would take approximately three years and would require external funding. The planned plant would have an estimated annual production of 4 million ounces of silver, 80,000 ounces of gold and 10 million pounds of each lead and zinc and could be completed by late 2014.

The independent consulting firm of Chlumsky Armbrust and Meyer (CAM) has been retained to provide an updated Canadian National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") compliant resource estimate for Velardeña. As part of updating the resource estimate, CAM is auditing the geologic database and the quality control and quality assurance procedures. The Company expects that the new resource estimate will be completed about year-end 2011.

much more at: #msg-68966014