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Golden Minerals is a junior silver producer with a strong growth profile, listed on both the NYSE Amex and TSX.

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January 28, 2010
ECU Silver Reports on Gold and Silver Operations for December and November 2009
TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Jan. 28, 2010) - ECU Silver Mining Inc. (TSX:ECU)

ECU Silver Mining Inc. is pleased to report on its silver and gold fabrication for the months ending December 2009 and November 2009.

Highlights include:

  - To-date in January, silver ounces precipitated, are close to the ounces
    generated in November and December of 2009, combined.

  - December yielded a silver equivalent of 52,752 ounces from the oxide
    mill and 15,162 ounces from the sulphide mill.

  - November yielded a silver equivalent of 52,533 ounces from the oxide
    mill and 22,233 ounces from the sulphide mill.

  - Average daily throughput at the oxide mill has increased to 650 tonnes
    per day ("tpd"), exceeding the 500 tpd target by 30%.
The ramp up of the oxide gold and silver plant at Velardena, which was acquired in March of 2009, has been successful, despite the typical start-up challenges that are normal for new operations. The Company believes these challenges are behind it and expects the operations to perform more optimally in 2010. Evidence of these improvements has already taken hold as expected silver ounces precipitated in January of this year, should be close to the ounces generated in November and December of 2009, combined. The Company will also continue to ramp up its 320 tpd sulphide plant, also located in Velardena, which will generate additional gold and silver metals contained in concentrates, for 2010.

In December, the Company generated (see Table 1), a total of 592 ounces of gold and 14,272 ounces of silver from its oxide mill and also generated 124 ounces of gold and 7,102 ounces of silver contained in concentrates from the sulphide mill, which has been ramping up since September 2009. Using the current silver-to-gold ratio of 65 to one (base metals not included as equivalents), ECU generated 52,752 ounces of silver equivalents from its oxide mill and 15,162 ounces of silver equivalents from its sulphide mill.

Table 1: December
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(ounces)                              Oxide Mill   Sulphide Mill    Total
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Gold                                         592              14      606
Silver                                    14,272           6,189   20,461
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Silver Equivalent                         52,752           7,099   59,851
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In Pyrite Concentrate (sent to inventory)
 Gold                                          -             110      110
 Silver                                        -             913      913
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Silver Equivalent                              -           8,063    8,063
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
In November, the Company generated (see Table 2), a total of 584 ounces of gold and 14,573 ounces of silver from its oxide mill and also generated 180 ounces of gold and 10,533 ounces of silver contained in concentrates from the sulphide mill. On a silver equivalent basis, ECU generated 52,533 ounces of silver equivalents from its oxide mill and 22,233 ounces of silver equivalents from its sulphide mill.

Table 2: November
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(ounces)                              Oxide Mill   Sulphide Mill    Total
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Gold                                         584              11      595
Silver                                    14,573           9,021   23,594
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Silver Equivalent                         52,533           9,736   62,269
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In Pyrite Concentrate (sent to inventory)
 Gold                                          -             169      169
 Silver                                        -           1,512      913
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Silver Equivalent                              -          12,497   12,497
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
During November and December, the dissolution of precious metals in the oxide milling operations was impacted by high concentrations of copper in the solutions. The higher concentrations of copper occurred mainly because of the higher mill throughput levels during these two months, when slightly over 600 tonnes of material were processed per day, much higher than historical maximum levels of 500 tpd. Steps have been taken to bring gold and silver recoveries back to their normal levels by reducing the copper in the solution circulating through the mill.

To date in January, average daily mill throughput has increased significantly to 650 tpd and the copper levels in the solutions have been maintained at acceptable levels. The precious metals that were not dissolved due to the previously high copper will be recovered over time through leaching of the tailings.

Readers should note that ECU cannot provide production or cash flow forecasts. ECU is considered and recognized as an exploration and development company by the security regulators in Canada, and as such, is restricted by the regulators from providing specific forecasts. The Company holds a NI 43-101 compliant silver equivalent mineral resource of 40 million ounces in the measured and indicated category and 391 million ounces in the inferred category. Consequently, ECU's current milling operations represent only a minor part of ECU's mineral resources and this defines the basis for the classification of the Company as an exploration and development company. This classification will continue until production represents a material portion of the business, or until a pre-feasibility is completed.

A preliminary economic assessment ("Scoping Study") is underway, which will highlight, on a preliminary basis, the economics of larger milling operations at the Velardena operations. This is the first major step to completing a pre-feasibility study.

Michel Roy, chairman and chief executive officer, commented: "Several new initiatives and upgrades have, and will be implemented into both milling operations which will provide for enhanced recoveries as well as increased annual capacity. These new initiatives have already started to show their benefits as seen in our daily throughput of mineralized material at the oxide mill where we have consistently achieved well above our 500 tpd target, at times reaching almost 700 tpd."

Stephen Altmann, president added that "Our goal in 2010 will be to focus on three priorities. First and foremost is to ensure profitable operations in order to maintain a strong balance sheet; second, complete our Scoping Study; and third, resume exploration activities, with internally generated cash, to further enhance our mineral resource and delineate the rich massive sulphide discovery."

The Company plans, after the first quarter 2010, to report results of its milling operations on a quarterly basis, as is standard in the industry, rather than monthly.
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